Through the Eyes of Soldiers
by NateOre
Summary: The world they lived in was never safe, and it took the fall of Wall Maria for them to realize that, but they must figure out how they will survive, this isn't the story of the lives they had to leave, it's the story of the lives they had to live. In this world it was kill or die. Nate Orne, Jade Calle, and Norbert Ven will have learn the hard way.[Will be removed/re-posted 5/31]
1. Ch 1: The Day the World He Knew Changed

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

If you are reading this it means you are giving my story a chance, which I appreciate with all my heart, please read this with care and consideration as I am a fan just like you showing my appreciation of the show through this story. I rated it T for the language, character descriptions, and possible romance in the near future.

This is my first try at actually publishing my works. Please leave a comment/review and rate I am open to criticism.

I dedicate this to a fellow fanfiction writer CRLS who's story Reluctant Heroes inspired me to post this, and to my cousin and character inspiration Vivian. Enjoy

**Prologue**

(Narrator)

The current year was 845, three walls were built almost a 100 years prior, for a sole purpose… to keep them out… so the architects of the walls built the a monstrous 50 meters tall to prevent the possibility of any of them climbing over, Wall Maria, Rose, and Sina were built for the single purpose of keeping out the Titans – the Titans were a species of gigantic human-eating monsters varying in height from 3 to 15 meters, all the information that has been collected and written about the Titans have come from the various reports made by the prestigious military branch who travel outside the safety of the wall called the Survey Corps, in these numerous reports it states the Titans' physical appearances strongly resemble that of humans; most Titans appear to be male though all of them have lacked any presence of sexual organs; their intelligence levels and cognitive thinking is unknown due to their variety but most have been said to be dim-witted; each Titan has a distinctive facial expression and fighting style; the Titan's origins is currently unknown and how they have been able to survive without a human food source for 100 years is a entire mystery, but one thing is certain about them and cannot be stressed enough in the reports… their ability to kill, no matter the size, none of them should ever be underestimated in any situation at hand… they have brought humanity to the brink of extinction, and it seemed inevitable before the building of the 3 walls, the reasons for their deadliness was because of their height and strength but primarily because of their ability to regenerate, making them seem invincible… but they are not… they have one known fatal weakness, the nape on the back of their necks, which if severely wounded (1 m tall, by 10 cm wide) they will die quicker they can regenerate their wounds – with the building of the walls, the last survivors of humanity from all corners of Earth had fled to the safety of the walls. A 100 years of peace since the building of the 3 walls; the specific construction of the walls to decrease the cost for wall protection and limit the amount of guards on the 3 walls was perfected by building walled districts on the outer layer of each of the three walls in each of the four cardinal directions.

As humanity seemed to reach the brink of desolation and total annihilation an improbable sense of hope appeared… Eren Yaegar, a survivor of the Titan invasion of Shigashina District, located on the outer wall of Wall Maria, in 845 who was ranked 5th in the 104th Trainee Corps out of his fellow cadets, possesses the ability to summon and control a 15 meter Titan known as the Berserker Titan, primarily known for Eren's ability to lose function of the Titan in extreme situations. Eren has been able to help humanity stop any further advancement of Titans at the Battle of Trost by plugging the hole in Trost's wall with a giant bolder and helped in the capturing of Annie Leonhart, the Female Titan, with help from his friends Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert, and his fellow soldiers… but what about the rest of the survivors? What happened to the rest of the survivors of the Titan Invasion of Shigashina District? This is not the story that is about Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Annie, Reiner or Krista… this is the story of a journey of 3 children that have been cursed to call their meaningless lives… this is the tale of Nate Orne, Jade Calle, and Norbert Ven.

* * *

**Ch 1: The Day the World He Knew Changed – Titan Invasion of Shigashina Part I**

(Nate Orne)

The year was 845… yet it felt like just yesterday I was born… nothing seemed to have changed since I was born… not my green-hazel eyes … not my short chocolate brown hair… nothing had changed, except for my realization that everything we knew and our living was wrong…it was wrong before I was born, before my parents had thought of having kid, before they were born, before my grandparents were born… but yet I still felt that everything would change one day… I try not to think of that… I'm 11 years old anyway and I only stand 1.65 meters and 60 kilograms… I should be thinking about what military branch I want to join when I graduate from the 103rd Trainee Corps… or what the girls in this district think of me… it was not so easy growing up in Shigashina District… everyday, such like today, everything seemed calm and peaceful, even though it wasn't; only a 50 meter wall stood between us and the Titans… but it wasn't important to me right now; I was with Jade Calle right now, my childhood friend, the girl of my dreams, "Hey Nate are you okay?" And yet we are still friends, but right now it was still too early for us to be together, I would have to wait until I graduated the 103rd Trainee Corps because a relationship at a our age was considered too distracting

I responded, "Yea I was just thinking." She looked so beautiful with her brown eyes… she was about 1.6 meters and 50 kilograms , she had a very curvaceous body which is probably why she was very protective of herself… right now we were laying in the grass on the inside of Wall Maria about 100 meters from the gate to the Shigashina, the Titans the numerous of failed expeditions and the mass consumption of soldiers, all of that went away when I was with her, and our families lived together, the flowers that surrounded her seemed insignificant and was shadowed by her beautiful raven black hair and the innocence of her big beautiful brown eyes, life seemed like it was finally going good, but I needed to tell her something, "Jade, I was thinking of not joining the 103rd Trainee Corps, you know and maybe becoming a writer, and if people like me I can probably live in Trost District with my cousin in the Garrison, Vivian Sevi and her younger brother Gino Sevi on Wall Rose, you know deep inside the walls, or maybe even live inside the interior of Wall Sina, if the king and the royal family like it… I know it sounds optimistic and childish but what do you think about it?"

She stared at me for a bit, and with relief in her voice she exclaimed, "That is a lot better than joining the 103rd Trainee Corps… I just couldn't imagine what I would do if anything bad happened to you… I just don't know if I could live if I lost you… you're like the last family I have… ever since my dad bailed out on me and my family when I was born and my brother when he ran off to join the 94th Trainee Corps when I was 3 and he still hasn't come back either…" there was a slight pause, "Nate I have to tell you something, I think it's really important."

I said in an anxious manner, "What is it Jade?" Is today the day the world changed, between me and Jade, was the day I waited for today… *RING* *RING* a loud bell rang… that could only mean one thing…

A familiar voice shouted in our direction, "Nate, Jade the Survey Corps are back!" Typical Norbert Van, he stood 1.65 meters and 60 kilograms with shadowy black hair and bright blue eyes, but was widely known in Shigashina District for his escalating intelligence and awareness of his environment, was my best friend but he was always crashing in on me and Jade at the climax of everything, but my father was in the Survey Corps… I needed to see him today… he said there was something he needed to show me… it really seemed important to him… but I always hate how Norbert always bursts in on me and Jade, I mean me and Norbert were almost exactly the same; same height, beliefs, weight, and even similar plans for our future; Norbert wanted to live further inside the walls to feel more secure but he doesn't want to leave his grandfather, Mr. Ven, who is part of the Garrison in Shigashina District, but I needed some time alone with Jade right now.

Just then Jade stated, "Alright Norbert let's go see Mr. Orne right now; C'mon Nate but we really got to talk later, if you don't have anything else to do."

I looked at her and nonchalantly said, "Jade like you said we're family; if it's important to you it's important to me." I immediately regretted saying that, man it sounded hell of a lot better in my head, but she smiled and blush so I guess she seemed to like it, but we needed to leave so I immediately said, "Anyway let's hurry to see my father." I hadn't seen or talked to my dad for at least a week because recently the Survey Corps have been going on additional expeditions then they usually do, but when he does come back I'm generally out working most of the day, or with Jade… the last time he was here my father told my mother that when he came back it might be the day he could show me something secret about what Dr. Grisha Yaegar had kept locked-up in his basement, I knew Dr. Yaegar's son Eren, who was a year younger than me and had a distinctive chestnut colored hair, but we never really talked to each other a lot, he's very stubborn and is determined about going outside the walls, but why would someone want to leave the safety of the walls? It just seemed so much safer then out there… I always see how many of the Survey Corps soldiers don't make it back, like sometimes my father comes back late, but because he usually gets separated from the group or his squad, but he always makes it back.

Norbert with a haste yet tired tone exclaimed, "Nate, Jade hurry we don't want to miss the Survey Corps like we did last time!"

Jade with a slight laugh chuckled, "Yea Nate, hurry up… Norbert's more excited to see your dad then you are."

I gave a little smirk, "That's not true; I'm just tired from sitting down for so long, it takes a lot of my energy to be able to be with you an entire day Jade."

Jade looked at me half disappointed "Are you saying you don't enjoy my company?"

I was frozen in words, "No I was ugh…" fuck why'd I say that?

Jade let out another cute yet sarcastic laugh "I'm only joking Nate… I know you love my company."

I gave her kind of a devious look as she ran on my right, "Man Norbert, just when you think you got girls figured out they go and change right on you, but you're lucky that you don't know the half of it."

* * *

(Jade Calle)

Everything was weird right now… when did it start feeling like this… or has everything always felt like this where I felt like maybe I should never have born… like as if anybody should've been born into a world like this but still one question always lingered in my head; does Nate love me like I love him, or is it just family love? It didn't matter to me if he loved me like I loved him, just as long as he knew that I had feelings for him, but right now I knew it could wait a little bit longer, seeing Mr. Orne was more important to Nate, heck seeing Mr. Orne was more important to me.

When we got there it was crowded, and there was a lot of screaming, it must have been a failure, I looked straight at Nate then to Norbert and said, "Guys, I don't think it didn't go as planned again."

Nate stood for 20 seconds, examining what little was left of the Survey Corps, "I don't think so either… but let's just find my dad, he'll explain what happened."

We all scanned the area silently until Norbert broke out and nearly screamed, "I don't know Nate, I don't see him, do you Jade?"

I ignored the first part, but I just kept on gazing around, but I couldn't find him in the area, "No, guys I don't see him," but there was I could see who would definitely know where Mr. Orne was, I could see the commander of the Survey Corps, "but I can see Commander Shadis! C'mon let's go ask him if he knows where Mr. Orne is." We started off fast paced, nearly jogging towards Commander Shadis until we saw him with a familiar but grim face, we saw him talking to Mrs. Orne… this couldn't be good, "Nate he's talking to your mom."

Nate shot a gaze into the direction of Commander Shadis and his mother, "What! But that must mean that… that he got severely injured… or maybe he got separated from his squad during the expedition… or maybe he's dead." Norbert and I fell completely silent… I felt lost… Mr. Orne… he was like a father to me and Norbert… he was Nate's father… he was a husband… he didn't deserve this… but he chose to help humanity, Nate in a grim tone said, "Jade let's go see which it is."

I nodded but I marched a step but I looked straight back into Norbert's eyes, his now faint blue eyes, they were full of shock and complete disbelief nearly on the verge of tears, he wanted to come with us, but he wanted to leave at the same time, but did he deserve to come with us? Yes he could come with us… no… he needed to come with us, I looked at him and said in a low but caring voice, "Nate wait, Norbert… I know you want to leave, but please stay… it would really mean a lot to me and Nate… I know how much Mr. Orne meant to you, and since you're like family, it wouldn't feel the same without you," we walked all so slowly now, with every step the tension in me started to build until we reached Mrs. Orne and Commander Shadis.

Both Mrs. Orne and Commander Shadis turned to our direction, Mrs. Orne opened her mouth but only a faint cry came out, Nate looked them both in the eyes, "Commander Shadis… Mom, did something go wrong with dad during the expedition… is he dead."

Mrs. Orne wiped the tears off her face, "No Nate… well me and Commander Shadis aren't sure… they say he got separated from his squad during the expedition… they all got caught up in the fight that he ended up getting separated…"

Commander Shadis stepped forward and put his arm on Mrs. Orne's shoulder, "Mrs. Orne I'll take it from here… it's better this way… he should hear it from me…" he cleared his throat and kneeled down to Nate with both of his hands on Nate's shoulders, tears started raining down his face as he said, "I cannot officially say your father is dead… I'm not the last person to see him… it was Erwin Smith who addressed it to me right after we had pulled out… he said that he saw him fighting a numerous amount of Titans… he must've killed at least 6 of the Titans surrounding him, maybe even more, but then a 13 meter Titan attacked him from behind and we heard a loud cry… but by then there was nothing Erwin or anyone else could do… I had already shot a flare and signaled our expedition a complete failure and ordered a full-on retreat… we can't confirm if he is dead because even as we were retreating we could hear him killing the remaining Titans… but he never came back… it isn't the first time he's been separated from his squad, but it is the longest… I just want you to know… THIS WAS ENTIRELY ALL MY FAULT! I SHOULD'VE GONE BACK TO RECOVER HIM, BUT I WAS TOO NIAVE! I WAS TOO CARELESS! I JUST HOPE YOU ALL CAN FORGIVE ME!"

It was true… Mr. Orne was gone, and right now we all knew there was nothing we could do to bring him back, I now knew that there was no waking up from this bleak and hopeless dream with my realization that eventually one day, if Wall Maria was ever breached by the Titans, everyone I know and love so dearly would die and be consumed by the Titans… all the Titans do is take from us… and yet there isn't anything we can do about it… absolutely nothing could help change the situation we have been placed in for the last 100 years… it wasn't the 100 years peace and prosperity of life we have all came accustomed to know… it has been 100 years of collections of meaningless and phony hopes and illusions of a life we have never lived in… and for what? So we can live in our own delusions until the day the Titans breach all the walls and ruin our little fantasies of what we believe are our normal lives? No… we have to do something different…we can't stay locked-up in these walls for another 100 years… we would have to venture out of these enclosed prisons into the outside world… the world we know nothing about.

* * *

(Narrator)

An hour after all that happened they each had gone their separate ways to try to get pass the possible death of Mr. Orne; Jade went home to help her mother prepare supper; Mrs. Orne went to the market to get groceries but in reality she was trying to cope with the realization that her husband is outside the wall and all alone… and he might be a Titan's meal; Norbert and Nate were on the way to meet Norbert's grandfather in the Garrison, Mr. Van and his colleague Mr. Cap at the entrance of Wall Rose. Nate was on the verge of tears, "Norbert what if my dad is dead or being devoured by Titans right now."

Norbert reassuringly stated, "Nate calm down, they said he was separated from the group, he could still be alive, heck by the way Commander Shadis described the situation, your dad was killing Titans before he could get hit, he's a warrior, and he's definitely alive, since no one saw him die, they could still hear him fighting, heck they even categorized him as Missing In Action, there is no way anyone could say he is dead without having proof."

Nate looked up at Norbert with a sense of annoyance in his eyes, "Norbert my father told me that if they can't recover a body, they categorize the deceased as Missing In Action to give the family a false sense of hope that they are still alive somewhere outside the wall…" Norbert bowed his head in a crushed manner with his failure in cheering up Nate. Nate could see this and immediately said, "but you're right, my father is a warrior… he's probably outside the wall right now, climbing as we speak." That's when a sudden flash of green lightning struck *BOOM* and an enormous explosion… Nate and Norbert sprinted around the corner only to see a cloud of steam coming from the other side of the outer wall of Wall Maria surrounding Shigashina… their mouths fell agape with the clear sign of what was a large hand on the Wall, and then they saw the skinless head of a Titan rising as it was trying to peer over the wall.

Norbert walked slowly forward, "That's impossible… that wall is 50 meters tall." They just stood there with the rest of the city as everything around them seemed to freeze in place. Their dreams… their families… their mere existence in the walls… everything they knew and lived for had seemed to have fallen apart in front of their eyes.

Nate nearly stumbled and fell, he nervously let out what was no more than his thoughts, "I didn't know they could get the big… can they get that big? Norbert is that Titan real or am I are we just dreaming this all up…" *BOOM*… chunks of the wall gate flew in all directions followed by the wind from the impact of the Titan's kick knocking nearly everyone, including Nate and Norbert, off their feet, the wall had been breached, everyone was screaming and running from the wall, except Nate who in shock was walking towards the wall, he looked back at Norbert and said, "Norbert, I have to go over there, my house is over there; Jade, Ms. Calle, and my mom are there."

Norbert in panic looked around for any answer that could better their current situation when finally it hit him, "I'll go get Mr. Cap and my grandfather to go help you."

Nate nodded, "Alright see you after I get my mother, Ms. Calle and Jade." Everything Nate knew had changed… today was the day the mysterious 60 meter Titan had appeared and had breached the once monumental wall…today was the day everything came into complete focus… today was the day the world he knew changed.

**Well this is my where I'll leave off, sorry if the prologue paragraph is a bit boring and that this isn't action-filled, but it will be in the future and tune into the next chapter, life-changing events occur and people are covered in blood.  
****Thanks for reading.**


	2. Ch 2: The Blood on Their Faces

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

If you are reading this chapter it means you like my story so far; I am very grateful to all the people reading who have taken interest in my story and hope you enjoy this chapter I will try to post frequently, at least having a few days in between chapters, and will post poems as part of the story in Nate Orne's view.

As usual please leave a comment/review, rate, and follow the story, I love criticism. Enjoy.

(Spoiler Alert: There will be lots of blood on lots of faces.)

**Ch 2: The Blood on Their Faces – Titan Invasion of Shigashina Part II**

(Nate Orne)

The year is 845; the day started off like any normal day would… except now it doesn't feel like today is the same day it actually was… I still can't believe today was the day the world I knew changed… I always hoped it would come, but now I wished it had never been today… my father was most likely dead, the gate to the wall that separated Titans from the people of Shigashina had been breached by a never before seen 60 meter Titan… it was unheard of yet I wasn't terrified or surprised… no I wasn't, I was frozen in this unusual aura of curiosity and new sense of wonder, like my father always was when he talked about the various of Titans he killed, he even noted down anything that made them look significantly different… if he was here now he would realize how this particular Titan wasn't trying to get through the wall… it wasn't climbing or trying to break through the wall… it just tried to break the entrance into Shigashina, so this meant this Titan was intelligent, so it was a lot different from the Titans my father told me about… but right now the 60 meter Titan was the least of my concerns, unless it came through the wall, I just kept thinking about how I needed to get to my house… I need to find Ms. Calle… I needed to find my mother… I needed to find Jade, but as I turned to go to my street there was Eren and his foster sister Mikasa running in the same direction, they lived at least a few blocks away from my house… I never mentioned it before because I have an enormous amount of self-pride but I envied Eren, I envied Mikasa… Mikasa had no family, at least not by blood, but she was very strong, physically and mentally… Eren was very optimistic and strong-willed; he wouldn't let himself stop fighting to achieve his goal, even if it ended up killing him… hopefully they would be alright and would be able to survive through this outburst of hell… as I ran, left and right there were people dead and injured with shards of the wall all over… I kept thinking to myself Nothing happened to my house… it'll still be there… and then I took a quick look at Eren and Mikasa as they began to turn; Eren cried "Mom!" but I couldn't worry about their problem now… I needed to get to Jade and our mothers… but as I passed their block I quickly looked at their direction and stopped at what I saw; it was shocking... there was a huge boulder on their house! They needed my help… but what if that happened to my house? I would help them on my way back… if they were still alive… I decided to continue for my house… I turned on my street and right in front of my eyes I saw Jade, Ms. Calle, and my mom running from a 7 meter Titan that appeared to have jumped on our now demolished house… man was it huge and had these crazy bug-eyed stare, and an small mouth with a creepy grin… I was frightened and couldn't move… I just stood there in terror… but then I thought of a plan; I picked up some of the wall fragments and ran towards Jade and our moms; I knew I was faster and quicker then Jade and our moms, and I figured I was small enough to out maneuver the Titan… at least I thought I could, "Jade, Ms. Calle, mom, go right after you pass me, I got a plan!" They each wore a worried face, but no one's looked more worried than my mother's.

My mom yelled, "Nate what are you…"

I looked at her and gave her the look my father always wore, a mask of confidence, "Mom, trust me! I have a plan!" My mother nodded and they passed me, I couldn't hear what they yelled back to me as I saw them turn, it was something like "See you at the wall gate!" I couldn't tell who said it but it didn't matter. The Titan stood up and it ran towards me… I threw the fragments at it, *Slash* one of the fragments was a direct hit into its right eye and it tripped over its own feet as it yelped in pain. I ran around it into an alleyway… but then I began to think, this was the way to Eren's street! Could he and Mikasa attract the Titan? No it wants me… especially after I hit it in the eye and it wouldn't be able to see them; their house and the boulder would block them from its view. That's when I got to his street and about 50 meters left of me was a 15 meter Titan, over twice the size of the one that was chasing me, and had this opened elongated smile… it had something in its hands… a person… a women… it was Eren's mother! I could see Eren another 100 meters away from me as him and Mikasa were being carried away by a Garrison soldier… I was paralyzed in fear…she was fighting it… but then it lifted its right hand to *CRACK* snap her spine as blood spewed out of her mouth, eyes, and nose… as the blood slowly dripped out of her it lifted her up and put her in its mouth… then violently chomped down on her… her blood spewed everywhere… I turned to see the 7 meter Titan, but I didn't move… it picked me up, but I kept looking back at the bigger Titan… the Smiling Titan… the blood had splattered everywhere in all directions… Eren's mother… her blood was everywhere… I was covered in it… the Smiling Titan was covered in it… the 7 meter Titan was covered in it… I was paralyzed in the 7 meter Titan's hand and I wasn't resisting it… I looked up and thought everything was over… until an old-looking Garrison soldier appeared and landed on the Titan's face, stabbing it in the eye… it let out a monstrous roar, but soon after it had started it stopped, another Garrison soldier, in his late-20s, cut out its nape, the Titan's only weakness, and the older gentlemen grabbed me and sprung to the top of the closest building. The Garrison soldiers were Mr. Ven, an old man with white-gray hair and silver-white beard standing a good 1.8 meters, and Arnold Cap, a relatively young man with raven black hair standing an enormous 2 meters…

In a calm voice Mr. Ven spoke, "Nate, it's me, Norbert's grandfather… we are here to escort you out of the city, it's not safe here, we have to…" he paused in mid-sentence and immediately started to examine the blood that consumed my body, "Nate who's blood is that all over you?"

I stood there in silence as tears rushed down my face for a minute, I couldn't accumulate enough courage to speak, but a word was able to slip out, "Hers."

Mr. Ven and Arnold were astonished, Mr. Ven kneeled down in front of me and we stared eye to eye and he serenely said, "Is it Jade's blood? Ms. Calle's? Your mom's? Nate we need to know whose blood it is."

I let out a cry, "Eren's mother… it's hers…a Garrison soldier took Eren and Mikasa away… that huge Titan ate her… but Eren still saw it… I still saw it…" I uncontrollably cried, I was no longer able to stop my tears from falling down my face… I was no longer able to push aside my cowardice, "I could've saved her… I could've…"

Mr. Ven wiped the tears off my face, "Nate, there was nothing you could do… just go with Mr. Cap… Arnold I want you to take him to the boat… Norbert's already there… Nate where are the women at?"

I stood up now; I couldn't cry no more, the survival of my remaining family depended on me now, "They went for the gate to Wall Maria, I drew the Titan you guys killed to help them get away… it was chasing them…"

Mr. Ven nodded proudly, "Nate your father would be proud, let's hope your mother can be the same, Arnold take Nate now… I'll deal with incoming Titans, try and spare some time for the rest of the civilians to evacuate." Mr. Ven pulled out his swords.

A harsh yet professional voice emerged, "Negative Ven, you can't do that all alone, and there are already Titans beyond this point, let's fall back and assist the civilians as they evacuate and receive order when we return to the gate, stop the Titan's advancement into the walls, it is our best bet." Arnold stood tense, ready to argue his point if he were dared question.

To his surprise Mr. Ven put his swords away, "Arnold why must you keep me from battle?" he let out a small chuckle, "I'm very surprised Arnold… and to thing that you were a few ranks away from being n the top ten for your class… I guess fate planned for you to save me, huh, well let's fall back then, we'll figure it out then."

Arnold nodded and grabbed me and they used their 3-D Maneuver Gear (Maneuver Gear) to whisk away towards the wall… but time seemed to be paused in my mind as I kept looking at that one Titan… the Smiling Titan had nearly walked out of my field of view… I will never forget that face… I will never forget he blood… I will never forgive myself… my eyes were closed and I cried… the world was cruel, the splashes of blood on my face was proof of that, but there was nothing anybody could do but to try and survive, but what was the point of falling further back into the walls if the walls would just fall? Even if it took 100 more years the walls wouldn't stand forever… the walls would fall and the Titans would come in… everything that happened today would happen all over again… I knew it… but I couldn't let that happen again… I had to do something about it… that's when I heard the scream of a girl followed by Arnold screaming, "Jade!" and I look down to see a girl standing 1.6 meters motionless covered in blood... her luscious raven black hair drenched in blood... it was Jade...

* * *

(Jade Calle)

I was helping my mother in the little kitchen; we were preparing dinner for us, Mrs. Orne, and Nate to try to relieve the stress and tension in all of us from Mr. Orne's incident, in case he was still alive and returned, like usual, we started to prepare his plate first but as I walked to the table… *BOOM* a sudden flash of green light followed by a sort of explosion; I brushed it off, maybe it was just a storm passing by, but there wasn't any rain or cloud, it was as bright as a day could be… *BOOM* another sudden explosion and chunks of wall fragments were sent drifting across the sky… I was shocked as I saw an enormous bolder land only a few blocks away, me and my mother immediately dropped the dishes in our hands and went for the door when Mrs. Orne walked in. She was in a state of panic, "Jade, Mel have you guys seen Nate? I haven't seen him since this afternoon."

I immediately responded, "No Mrs. Orne, I haven't seen him since we were all together." Mrs. Orne was freaking out as tears rapidly ran down her now pale face. "Mrs. Orne is there something wrong? What happened out there?"

In a historical cry Mrs. Orne yelled, "We need to find him the wall has been breached!"

I nearly fell off my feet, "Mrs. Orne… how could they… the walls there 50 meters." I stammered in fear unable to choose my own words, just the words of my most inner fear slipped out, "but that means that Nate and Norbert could be…" I let out a faint cry as I fell to my knees.

Mrs. Orne picked me and shook me yelling, "C'mon we need to go and find him... we can't lose someone else... no like my Justin... I can't bear it... I just can't..."

My mom grabbed Mrs. Orne and told her, "Calm down Carrie, let's go and..." my mother stopped, wide-eyed and mouth agape... standing outside was a Titan, 7 meters tall with an insane bug-eyed stare and small mouth grinning. "Jade, Carrie let's go!" we ran out of the house, and we looked back as the Titan jumped on the house... it's happening... it's really happening... we ran 25 meters when Nate appeared, the Titan right behind us still trying to get up.

Nate was frozen for a second then he went for some wall fragments and ran towards us, "Jade, Ms. Calle, mom go right after you pass me I got a plan!" he was willing to risk his life to save us... but we could all just get away... no we'd all be eaten by that Titan.

Mrs. Orne in shocked yelled, "Nate what are you..."

He gave her a familiar face his father would've given her, a face of confidence, "Mom trust me!" Mrs. Orne nodded, I didn't want to let him go alone... but what if I became a burden, I trust him... we passed him and I felt my other half of my heart rip apart from me...

I turned my head and yelled, "See you at the wall gate!" and we turned to the monstrous roar of the Titan and a loud boom... Nate had thrown the fragments he picked up and he hit the Titan... it was 10 meters from him, 100 from us, and it got up and ran for Nate as he ran into an alleyway... the Titan tried to go in it but it could not fit, so it started to climb a building towards Nate's direction, but it was left stuck with its feet hanging... Mrs. Orne stood there motionless, "Mrs. Orne, Nate's safe, trust me, we'll see him later, we got to go now!" Just then, we saw a Garrison soldier carrying 2 kids, 1 under his arm and 1 over his shoulder, but they were 50 meters away... the kids looked familiar... it was Eren and Mikasa... Eren was screaming something but it was indistinct to me... but his scream was followed by a splattering of blood... the blood drops scattered over us... Eren was paralyzed in the Garrison soldier's arms... as was Mrs. Orne, my mother, and I... I could tell we had the same question on our mind; Who's blood was it? A picture of Nate having his head bitten off came into my head...

"Ah!" my mom screams; she is now in the hands of a 10 meter Titan with a thin mouth and wide eyes, I start to go for her, but Mrs. Orne stops me, and runs in the opposite direction.

I howl in pain, "Mom!" the Titan put my mom in its mouth and chomped down... sending blood flying in our direction... we stop about 20 meters from the Titan.

Mrs. Orne tells me, "Jade run I'll hold it off," and Mrs. Orne runs back to the 10 meter Titan who is still devouring what was left of my poor stiff mother.

I just stood there and said, "But Mrs. Orne..."

Mrs. Orne turns yelling, "Go now! Find Nate!"

I nodded and whispered to myself, "Listen to her... she would rather die saving me than risk both our lives... if you escape you can get help..." I ran as fast as I could towards the direction to the wall gate, but I looked back when I heard a scream... Mrs. Orne had gotten pass the 10 meter one by throwing what was wall and building fragments but right behind it was a 5 meter Titan, with a ridiculous frown, that immediately picked her up; she screamed for help but the Titan started to devour her viciously tossing blood in all directions... buckets of blood drops were sent my way, hitting me, and making me step backwards. I heard someone scream my name and as I looked up I was grabbed by an old Garrison soldier and he sprung us up to a nearby building.

It was Mr. Ven, who picked me up, and with him was Arnold Cap and a bloody Nate, "Jade, don't freak out it is only Mr. Ven and Arnold... where's your mom at? Where's my mom at?"

I opened my mouth as tears ran down my face, but could only say one thing, "Nate... who's blood is that on you?"

Nate's green-hazel eyes began to tear up, that's when Mr. Ven came up to me and said, "It's Eren's mom's."

A deep silence came over me for a few seconds, but I was in too shock to remain silent, "I saw Eren... is that why he screamed?"

Nate wiped his eyes, "Yes, Jade I... I saw it happen to her... but I couldn't do anything... but who's blood is on you?"

I just stared into his eyes and cried out, "Hers and..." but I could no longer talk as my voice began to be muffled as tears ran down my blood-covered cheeks... it was too obvious... our mothers were dead... the blood on me was our mother's blood...

In an emotionless but calm tone Arnold said, "Mr. Ven, we must continue to fall back, I spot 2 Titans, 1 at 10 meters and another at 5 meters... we must leave now, we are attracting them."

I let out a cry as I fell into Nate's arms, "The 10 meter Titan... it ate my mom... the 5 meter Titan ate Nate's... she went back to distract the 10 meter Titan, Mrs. Orne saved me..." we immediately heard a brute roar as Arnold jumped towards the Titans, "NO, ARNOLD DON'T!" he struck them swiftly and, unseen by the naked eye, killed both Titans.

He landed and said, "Let us go now... Jade, Nate... I am sorry... I can't explain it now, but this is all my fault."

* * *

(Narrator)

They entered the gate to Wall Maria's interior, but it was unimportant... their mothers were dead, and there was nothing they could do about it; the world they lived in was cruel, even before the wall had been breached, and this was proof that the worst had happened... everything had gone to hell... the world was cruel, Nate and Jade had found out the hard way... the splattering of blood they had witnessed... the blood on their faces... the abstractness of life on their faces... but now wasn't a time for them to grieve... it was time for them to make their escape...

**Probably wasn't what you expected, but tune into the next chapter, see who lives through this tragedy and who doesn't make it onto the boat.  
Thanks for reading.**


	3. Ch 3: Their Escape From Hell

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

Sorry this chapter is small, I just wanted to get it done before the end of the weekend because I might not be able to post as much as I want during the week, but the next chapter will be longer and more characters will be introduced.

Anyway leave a review or rating as usual, I am open to criticism.

I dedicate to my best friend and character inspiration Norbert.

**Ch 3: Their Escape From Hell - The Invasion of Shigashina Part III**

(Narrator)

The sounds of screams could no longer announce the hopelessness of the situation, at least that's what the citizens of Shigashina thought, because as they ran from the Titans, they could not escape; the Titans grabbed people - uncles and aunts, mothers and fathers, grandparents and cousins, friends and strangers, soldiers and civilians - nobody was safe; they chomped off their heads or consumed them whole, but they never tried to kill... it was a byproduct of their consumption of humans. Today was no different from any other, except it was... today, Shigashina had been overrun with Titans... mothers were eaten... homes were destroyed... but Shigashina had fulfilled its purpose of attracting the Titans; districts like Shigashina were found on all 3 walls in the 4 cardinal directions... they were solely built to be an be human attractions to Titan, the architects knowing that Titans are more attracted to large groups of humans, and these districts end up lowering personnel for guarding and cutting cost for protection... but the Garrison could no longer worry about recapturing Shigashina... only helping the evacuation of the survivors.

* * *

(Norbert Ven)

The evacuation had started a few hours ago and I was on board the ships... crowed on the ship yet I was still alone... how was I supposed to live without any of them? What if Nate and Jade were eaten? What if Grandfather and Mr. Cap didn't get to them in time? Or what if they were eaten along the way? No... there are too many people here... they have to be here, and they were... they were just boarding the ships as I stood in relief, apart from the stress I felt about humanity's current situation with Shigashina... Their faces were grim... they had just become witnesses to the hell the Titans had brought into Shigashina... but still where was Grandfather and Mr. Cap? Where was Ms. Calle and Mrs. Orne? Grandfather and Mr. Cap were probably station at the wall gate, fighting off the Titans to stop them from further advancing... but were Ms. Calle and Mrs. Orne eaten? They must've been, the faces of Nate and Jade wore was that of loss and trauma... I went for them but something was wrong; a single Garrison soldier shouted, "No more people... the ships are full!" The Garrison soldier wasn't letting any people on... they were going to leave them.

Panic among the deserted broke loose.

A person shouted, "But there are still children here!"

And another desperately screamed, "Please take my children, they're all I have left!"

But the Garrison soldier kept his ground along with his partner and yelled at the people, "There's no more room!" and turned yelling at the ship, "Tell them to go now!" The boat started to move and I was frozen in place... then all hell was unleashed as people were screaming at the top of their lungs; most of them started to run towards the boat, leaping their bodies in the air... some of them made it... others fell or had slipped off the boat... the scene was inhumane... how could they do this to people... however, I began to hear the sounds of thundering footsteps overshadowed the screams of the deserted people... I looked towards the wall and... *BOOM*... the impossible had happened... a Titan had breached Wall Maria.

I whispered to myself, "How could that Titan do that... how could it breach the wall? That Titan... this is the last thing we needed... but it's different..." I began to note down the Titan's characteristics in my head, primarily the ones that made it unique or rare... it was 15 meters and had the appearance of of armor instead of skin... it was primarily structured to break the wall... it didn't try to eat nor was it attracted to any of the nearby humans, but instead it just stood there, so it had to be intelligent... with Titans like the armored one and the colossal-sized one we can never win... heck with or without them we could never win... humanity never had a chance... I walked to Jade and Nate; I hugged them and we all cried...

**Sorry nobody really died, I think it is too early to kill off any of the main characters yet, but don't expect that important people won't die, tune in to the next chapter, important secrets are going to be revealed.  
Thanks for reading.**


	4. Ch 4: The Days After

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long and that it isn't as long as I hoped, but school has cut into some of my writing so I needed to make this shorter than I normally would make it, next chapter will introduce many characters in the 103rd Trainee Corps.

As usual please leave a comment/review, rate, and follow the story. Enjoy.

**Ch 4: The Days After - The Years That Followed Wall Maria Part I**

(Norbert Ven)

The few days that followed the breach of Wall Maria went by slow, full of pain and regret; I hadn't talked to Nate or Jade since we had fallen-back into Wall Rose because I felt like they needed time to mourn their losses. I woke to see Nate and Jade sitting, holding hands; were they a couple? No, they couldn't be... could they? I yawned to notify them that I was awake; they quickly separated and both blushed, but shook it off and came to me; I decided to break the silence we had kept for days, "They've finally done it... they've managed to destroy our way of life..."

"No Norbert..." Nate said in a slightly harsh tone, "It was destroyed all along... we just thought it wasn't, but it's clear to me now..." he took a deep breath and sighed with a face full of disbelief, "We can't let this happen again... we can't be weak no more... we have to join the 103rd Trainee Corps."

Shock entered me like lightning, I jumped to my feet and at the top of my lungs I screamed, "Nate we are no match for the Titans... they are nearly invincible... we'll die like..."

"Norbert, Nate's right..." Jade said with tears forming in her brown eyes and signs of regret blooming on her face, "We have to get stronger... we can't let this happen to anyone... no one deserves to go through the hell we survived... no one deserves to lose their mother."

I looked at them in denial, I could understand their reasons but I couldn't comprehend their logic, I got up and started to walk down thinking that fresh air would calm me down or help them think straight... we, and fellow survivors, had been taking refuge in a food storehouse, we didn't need food... my grandfather had kept a secret stash in his bag and had given it to me to distribute among me Jade and Nate, but even then it wouldn't last 4 months, then I began to cool down and decided to start explaining my reasoning to them, I said, "Guys, do you not remember what the Titans have done... look at everyone that's made it... they either look frightened or disillusioned, and have become nothing more then the corrupt faces of selfishness after what the Titans have done... Nate what about our dreams of living in the interior, away from the Titans and poverty... look at everyone fights for food, but there isn't enough food for everyone here... if we be reckless we will surely be the ones to starve to death in the winter, before we even turn 12... forget about the Trainee Corps, we have to be conservative of ourselves; we can't be careless or reckless... we must survive."

Nate stood up and put his hand on my shoulder, "Exactly Norbert, but to survive we must learn how to protect ourselves... and we have not forgotten the terror the Titans have brought with them in Shigashina and I'm not saying we are going to go and be stupid about the situation; I'm saying we are going to learn how to survive in a world like this, face it Norbert our dream would never be accomplished, but it won't stop me from writing still... Me and Jade have already decided to join the 103rd Trainee Corps... the only question we are left with is if you will be willing to join us?"

I immediately felt the weight of Nate's question, and it nearly made me collapse in shock, I wanted to join, but I needed to be honest... I couldn't because I had no motivation to keep me in, "I'm sorry guys, but I can't... I don't have a reason to now... if anything encourages me to join in the next year, then you can count me in."

A smirk rose on Nate's face, to him a maybe was better than a no... to him it meant there was still hope, no matter how small, but his smirk fell and his face was replaced by curiosity, "Norbert where is your grandfather? Jade and I want to thank him and Arnold for saving us during the breach... we wouldn't be here without them."

I didn't know, but I did have a guess that seemed accurate to the situation at hand, " I think they are giving a report of the situation in Trost... hey look who it is." About 30 meters to our right were Armin, Mikasa, and Eren... Armin had gotten 3 pieces of bread from somewhere and was handing Mikasa and Eren a piece each.

Nate in a slight bit of rage whispered, "Why do they get bread... what about us? Haven't we gone through enough?"

I kind of gave Nate a little smack to the back of his head whispering, "Stop complaining... we still have a stash of food from my grandfather... we can go there now to get some right n..." right then somebody had yelped in pain. I turned to see Eren on the floor... with 2 soldiers from the Garrison looking down at him.

Eren screamed, "You don't know what it's like! You've never even seen it! You've never seen what the Titans do to people!" Eren was furious, but it was stupid of him to verbally assault a Garrison soldier, weather he needed to or not he would get beat.

One of the soldiers screamed, "SHUT UP!" And just on cue he lifted his rifle up, ready to strike Eren.

And just like it was an instinct, Armin stepped in front of Eren and respectively yelled, "I'm sorry! He's just hungry and irritable! That's why he so rudely lashed out a an adult... I'm sorry!"

Both of the Garrison soldiers looked around embarrassed and confused; one of them said, "Jeez... it's 'cause of us that you guys aren't starving to death you know! Even you kids oughta be thankful to us!" He knew it would mean a riot if he stirred up the situation anymore, and the last thing he needed was a full on riot of starving people.

Armin nodded and yelled, "Of course!" Armin was always coming to Eren's rescue using intelligence and persuasion as his weapon, the same way Mikasa, with her physical strength, and Eren, with his unbroken will, would come to his rescue. Armin was a nice kid to talk to, he was always nervous though, always putting himself down because he was physically weak, but if it wasn't for Armin, a Garrison soldier would never have saved Eren and Mikasa from a Titan and they would be dead...

* * *

(Nate Orne)

A year had passed since the day me and Jade had decided to join the 103rd Trainee Corps... about a few months before today an operation had been arranged to take back Wall Maria, but in reality it wasn't to take back Wall Maria... the government had sent 250,000 people, 20% of the population, to their deaths to prevent a food shortage... yesterday less than 100 people had returned... Mr. Ven and Arnold were one of the few Garrison soldiers to volunteer for the operation... they never returned... I looked down a Norbert who was crying, face full of tears and disbelief, "Norbert I'm sorry about your grandfather... he was a good man... he didn't deserve this." Norbert looked up at me and wiped his tears, holding a Garrison medallion... he had gotten it for his grandfather volunteering in the operation... he didn't need to volunteer... neither did Arnold... they chose to volunteer... they wanted the operation to succeed... I looked to meet Jade's dark brown eyes on the verge of tears. She was holding a opened letter and a Garrison medallion, "Jade where did you get that medallion from?"

She wiped her tears and said, "They gave it to me... Arnold Cap... he was my biological brother... the one that ran away." Her brother? How did we not know? He was always around our house; he had always kept an eye out for us, but especially Jade, "I just found out in this letter he had on his body... this was the only way they could identify him." she handed it to me and it read.

_To: Jade Calle_  
_ From: Arnold Cap_  
_ Dear Jade, __Although I have been in town since you were nine, it was best you know this after my death in this operation  
I am __your brother. My actual name is Oscar Calle, this Garrison medallion is my gift to you, I am sorry I've kept this a  
secret; I ran away at age twelve to join the Ninety-Forth Trainee Corps and was stationed in Trost District as a prodigy  
to the Garrison Elite Squad, until I requested to be stationed in Shigashina when I turned eighteen. I could've been in  
the top ten of my class, but I chose to let some girl I liked make it, but unfortunately she was was ranked lower than a  
girl named Catherine Sein but only by a few points. As I said I was stationed in Trost, along with Vivian; she would  
tell me about her relatives, and I soon came to realize her relatives were the Orne family that lived in Shigashina  
District and had taken in you and mother; by then I had to see you guys; I needed to know you were okay; Vivian  
is in Trost now, look for her; she has a secret of the Titans with her. Join the One Hundred and Third Trainee Corps,  
and join the Garrison or Survey Corps with Nate and Norbert; she is your last hope; look for Dr. Yeagar; he knows  
a secret about the Titans; look out for his son, Eren, because without him Dr. Yeagar won't tell humanity the secret.  
Time is limited; I have suspicion that the Titans will strike Trost in 850 since Wall Mara fell. Don't fail.  
Love, Oscar Calle_

I looked at the letter surrounded by doubt due to its contents, and with a face full of shock I said, "What does this mean? What does Vivian have with her? There's nothing she could know about the Titans that we wouldn't know... is there?"

Jade shook her head and shrugged, "I don't know Nate, we'll have to find it out from her when we see her."

Norbert sprung up to his feet, a sense of confidence and motivation came from his posture and his voice as he spoke, "Let's do it... let's join the 103rd Trainee Corps!"

Me and Jade stood there astonished by Norbert's words and change of attitude, I stood up and walked towards Norbert saying, "Norbert are you sure... you have nothing to prove... you don't have to throw your life away if you don't want to, you are smart enough to help us by enhancing humanity's technological inventions."

Norbert nodded, "Nate I understand what you are saying, but I don't what to find out that either of you died in the hands of a Titan and I would have to live knowing that there was nothing I could do to save you guys, and I'm not throwing my life away... we all know we have to do this, and anyway I told you 8 months ago that I would join if I had gotten a reason came up... we can't be weak, and I'm ready to be strong now."

I was semi-glad that Norbert finally understood what we needed to do, I looked at Jade, never before had I seen her so sad, what if she didn't want to join anymore? I needed to know; I lent down my hand and she grabbed it as I pulled her up and asked her, "Jade are you still in, too?"

Jade gave me a smirk, trying to hide her pain, but still she nodded, "Yes, this letter doesn't change my decision, and how I feel isn't important compared to the state humanity has been in for 101 years."

I nodded, I felt an intense fear for my friends' well-beings, but it was their decision and I would be there for them, and no matter what I said they would not budge, I smiled and said, "Alright, we'll join the 103rd Trainee Corps."

**Sorry that this chapter and the last chapter weren't that long, I needed to get out some little bits, next chapter will be super long.  
****Thanks for reading.**


	5. Ch 5: 103rd Trainee Corps

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

I apologize for not posting as much as I've wanted to but I made this chapter extra long. Please review/favorite/follow.

I dedicate this chapter to the people who inspired the new characters: My friends Herman Ethan and Cua, my cousin Anthony, fellow writer Swiftfire100's character GwenFireheart/VerityCampball from _Her Year of Happiness_, and my brother Gino.

Enjoy. And go read PinkAmy's _The Second Pain_ it is a fan fiction about _The Outsiders_.

**Ch 5: The 103rd Trainee Corps - The Years After Wall Maria Part II**

(Norbert Ven)

We had signed up for the 103rd Trainee Corps, me Nate and Jade... today was the first day of our 3 year journey... our head drill instructor was named Bruce Deltri; he stood 2 meters tall, had a cold blue-green glare, and had snow-white hair; since it was our first day he taught us how to properly salute. He instructed us to place our right hand over our heart and our left hand across our lower back, which signified us giving our hearts to the people. However, our hell immediately followed as he began to shout in a demonic brute voice, "You all are here to try to help aid humanity in its battle with the Titans, I am here to determine whether you can aid us by becoming a shield to the people or spineless pawns we can feed to the Titans!" Things were getting tense as I stood among the front row of the crowd with 2 meters between us; I was 6th from the right and 55th from the left, at this moment I wanted to get it over with, how harsh could he actually be? "Cadet 1 face me; what the hell is your name and where are you from!?"

Cadet 1, the person who stood in front of the drill instructor, had a light tan skin color, was 1.72 meters and had a stylish brown-black hair, and he swiftly saluted and answered, "Herman Esqui from Trost District, Sir!" his salute was slightly off.

Instructor Bruce immediately asked him a difficult question, "Why are you here!?"

Herman hesitated for a bit, he let the question process as he tried to think of something acceptable to say, he smiled as he found his answer, "To help aid humanity by slaughtering Titans, Sir!"

People around were whispering about how his answer was at least tangible to the situation at hand, but Instructor Bruce just stood there without a change of face, "Cadet Esqui, you will not make it out of here if you cannot even salute properly! Every soldier that has graduated through me were able to salute without flaw on the 1st day! For every time you, or anyone, do not salute properly, you, Cadet Esqui, will hang from a bar 5 meter in the air over solid concrete as everyone else runs 10 laps around the camp, in which you will hold on until every single person is completely finished and then you will run for my pure amusement until I feel I am bored of your pure pain!" Everyone was purely shocked, Drill Instructor Bruce was more brutal then everyone had presumed.

Herman in distraught acknowledged Instructor Bruce's devious response, "Understood, Sir!"

Instructor Bruce, then, walked on towards the next cadet, who was purely in his own world,"Cadet 2 face me! Who the hell are you!?"

Cadet 2 just saluted; he was 1.75 meters, had a pink skin color and dirty blond hair; he was lost and intimidated, but as soon as Instructor Bruce stood in front of him, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Ethan Gill from Dauper Village inside Wall Rose, Sir!"

To everyone's surprise, Instructor Bruce took a step forward so that him and Ethan were about chest to chest and while Instructor Bruce was looking down at Ethan he howled, "Why the hell are you here!?"

Ethan stood there quiet, he suddenly turned red with embarrassment by some thought or answer he had for Instructor Bruce. He sighed a slightly mutter, "I want to join the Military Police, to serve..." the rest of what he said was so quiet I could not decipher the sounds he was making.

Instructor Bruce grabbed Ethan from his uniform and shook him like a rag-doll yelling, "Cadet Gill, if the military wanted to train pieces of shit with no backbones or balls we would recruit people from the interior; restate your reason or you will be expelled from the 103rd Trainee Corps and will be evicted from the premises with my foot in your ass!"

He dropped Ethan who landed on his feet; he immediately saluted and yelled, "I came here to enter the Military Police to meet the beautiful women of Wall Sina and hopefully have a chance to pleasure them in anyway shape or form possible!"

Instructor Bruce stood there in disgust and head-butted Ethan, who fell to his knees holding onto his head, and immediately lifted him of his knees and shook him again in a furious manner, before he threw him 6 meters behind him, "Stand up Cadet Gill! You will learn how to respect women as fellow beings, not as items; for every time you are reported for demeanor acts toward a young female cadet, I will have you hang upside-down from a bar 5 meters in the air over solid concrete for an entire 24-hour period and immediately after the period is complete you will run for my sheer amusement of your suffering! And all this will be done without rest or sleep! Do I make myself clear!"

Ethan, his face now covered with more blood than visible skin, nodded and screamed, "Yes Sir!" If nobody was afraid of Instructor Bruce before, as I wasn't, the sure were terrified now... there was 3 people between me and my soon-to-be meeting with Instructor Bruce's rage; chills drove down my spine making me feel weak and frightened, but I decided to look forward and avoid attracting his attention.

I could hear him as he was walking to the next cadet, "Cadet 5, face me! Who the hell are you!?" I immediately looked toward his direction; he had skipped pass a pale girl with red-gold hair about 1.55 meters and a over-sized bulky guy with dark tan skin, slick black hair and stood 2.5 meters... did we have a Titan as a cadet? No, that was crazy, but why would he skip people?

The girl who stood in front of him was a relatively small white girl standing 1.48 meters with bright blond hair; she was beautiful, more beautiful than anyone I had ever seen; she saluted and, in the most beautiful voice I ever heard, she yelled, "Casey Teni from Trost District, Sir!" Her voice was so loud yet, at the same time, it was so soothing to hear.

Instructor Bruce nodded and calmly said, "Why are you here Cadet Teni." It threw everybody off, but Casey.

She was indeed shocked, but it didn't seem to bother her as she managed to immediately scream out her answer, "To join the Military Police and bring great honor to my family and district!"

Instructor Bruce nodded and smiled, "Good for you to have such a honorable cause, go for it..." but his smile dropped and his face was now within breathing distance of hers, and in his sinister voice he roared to her, "But know that you will never amount to your goal, and would not bring more honor to your family or district as the dirt beneath your shoes!"

She smiled faintly and nodded, "Yes Sir, I am not worth the honor of the dirt beneath myself!"

He smiled and nodded to her, and moved on to the next cadet, "Cadet 6..." it was me, "Who the hell are you!?"

I saluted, straightening up my posture, nearly flawless and screamed, "Norbert Ven from Shigashina District!" There was a sight gasp among the crowd of cadets that surrounded me.

However, he stood there unchanged, "Why the hell should I care! Explain to me why you have joined!" I could see he knew that I was intelligent.

I showed indifference, but behind my toughness I felt like collapsing; I knew I couldn't lie or sugarcoat it, not even slightly, because he would notice and be on me like he was on Herman and Ethan. I felt morally weak... but I came here to get stronger... I yelled, "I joined to gain the strength and knowledge to help aid humanity in it on-going battle with the Titans, and to ensure the safety of my friends and now the safety of my future comrades!"

Everybody around me was surprised, even Instructor Bruce, the only ones who weren't surprised were Nate and Jade who were the 2 people to my right. Instructor Bruce, though, simply nodded, "Such a noble and honest decision... but no matter how much strength and knowledge you gain, you will only endanger your friends, and I would not even deem you as useful as bait for the Titans!"

I nearly collapsed with his degenerate statement, but I could not show weakness, not now... not ever again... I looked him straight in his cold stare and retorted, "Yes Sir, I am not worthy to meet an honorable end in the hands of a Titan!" he then walked on and continued his intense interrogation, skipping Nate Jade and a few others; maybe he could sense people like Nate and Jade, people who had encountered the Titans face-to-face... which would put them in a blank state of mind, making them easy to mold into proper soldiers... but the rest of us would have to be reduced to nothing through a similar state of trauma-inducing tragedy, self-realization of our weaknesses, we would have to go on a rite of passage to become true soldiers. I looked to my right to see Casey turning; our eyes had met... her beautiful green eyes.

I opened my mouth to talk, but she whispered first, "Hey Norbert, you're really from Shigashina?" I nodded and she frowned whispering, "Did you encounter Titans?"

I shook my head and whispered, "Not up close, but I did see the 'Colossal Titan' and 'Armored Titan' breach both walls from a distance," her face carried a burden of concern... she cared for me, or at least she was considerate... either way I would like to get to know her better, "Casey do you want to hang out with me? After the instructor is done here of course."

Her face lit up as it became bright red, "Oh yeah, but why would you want to hang with somebody like me?"

I nearly gasped at her words, I couldn't believe what she had said; I touched her shoulder and whispered, "Why not? You seem like a wonderful girl and I feel you are like a person most people would like to know." She smiled and somehow began to turn redder bowing her head, I lifted her chin with my hand and said, "And since, it would be good to make more friends here, knowing we're going to spend the next 3 years together; it would be good to see who has my back." She nodded; where did that come from? Usually I'm so nervous when I talk to girls, even Jade; maybe it's the fact that my confidence in myself has risen since the failed operation to take back Wall Maria... but I knew my grandfather was no longer having to live in this world anymore... I turned to Nate and said, "Nate I'm hanging with Casey; don't wait up for me," then it hit me... Nate needed to know something, "but you and Jade have something in common with Cadet 3... the one that the instructor didn't call... I can feel it but I don't know what it is... you need to figure out what it is... find out if there are any other people that share what you 3 have in common, if it wasn't important the instructor would've interrogated everyone and not exclude anyone."

* * *

(Nate Orne)

We all entered the mess hall after our harsh introduction, which was a large 1-story building; it was big enough to be able to hold the 700 people who had joined... but already 60 people had decided they would rather be farmers than become soldiers, but none of which were n the first 2 rows, and were mainly people who weren't physically assaulted, people unlike Cadet 2 Ethan Gill. I sat down eating my food with Jade as we were both looking at Norbert hanging with Casey Teni. Casey was extremely beautiful and I could see in Jade's eyes pure jealousy, "What a little skank," Jade said, "acting all innocent."

I laughed at her remark, "Jade are you serious? Do you like Norbert now? Or do you think she is competition because she is so beautiful?" Jade looked at me for a bit and thought... she smiled and we both broke out laughing, "Jade you know you're one of the most beautiful girls here."

She nodded, blushing... the red of her cheeks bringing out her beautiful brown eyes, but a weird look appeared in her eyes, "One of them? Fuck, she was mad now; crossing her arms she blurted out, "Is there anyone else, Nate?"

She looked even more beautiful when she was mad, the red of her face brought out the brown in her eyes, making her the most beautiful girl in the room now, but she was still mad and I had to play it smart yet truthful, she could tell when I lied, "Of course Jade, but none make me feel the way I feel like whenever I'm with you." She blushed and smiled, she was calm now, but then a thought came in my head, what Norbert had told me when we were lined up, "Anyway, we need to figure out why we weren't called, along with the others who weren't; we might all have something in common." I stood up and observed the room, looking for people I knew weren't called, "Wait here Jade, I'm done eating; I'm going to look around, and possibly find out some more information." Jade simply nodded, but then began to eat swiftly without abandoning her lady-like manners; she didn't like it when I did things on my own, especially after the fall of Wall Maria. I walked around and saw somebody Norbert told me wasn't called, Cadet 3, "Hey, pardon me for barging in while you are eating, but I'm Nate Orne from Shigashina District, " I reached out my hand so it could make me more friendly, "Who are you?"

She stood up and shook my hand, she cleared her throat and in a sort of angelic voice, "I'm Swift... Swift Fire." She was stunning; she had pale-white skin and looked about 1.52 meters; she had very beautiful red-gold hair and pretty moonlight blue eyes... she was the type of girl you would take home to meet your parents, knowing they would accept her with joy into the family... she then began to blush as she smiled, and with her other hand playing with her hair, almost trying to seem cuter if that was possible.

"Nate, who is she?" Immediately Swift withdrew her hand from mine; we both turned to an angry looking goddess... it was Jade.

I would've smiled at her beauty, but it wasn't the best time for it; I simply decided to introduce them to each other, "Jade, this is Swift Fire. Swift, this is Jade Calle, she's from Shigashina District like me... we grew up together... we're basically like family."

Swift then smiled at the goddess of jealousy, reaching out to shake her hand while saying, "Hey Jade, it's nice to meet you," but Jade just glared into Swift's blue, almost frightful, eyes, "Oh I'm sorry if you think I'm trying to steal Nate from you. I'm not the kind of girl to steal someone's boyfriend."

Jade then grabbed her hand and shook it, "We're not actually a couple yet... like Nate said, we are kind of like family."

Swift smiled and looked at me, "Oh so you're single." Jade then let go of Swift's hand and glared at her with fiery eyes, and as beautiful as Jade looked, she terrified me; she was more pissed than I had ever seen her. She could've punched Swift with all the hatred that was in her eyes; she was completely jealous of Swift.

I quickly came between them to prevent a possible fight; I whispered to Jade, "Remember why we're here... don't start something you don't want to finish." Then I simply asked Swift a basic question, "Where are you from?"

Swift crossed her arms as said, "Well Nate," then she quickly glared at Jade, "I'm from an unstable tribe of nomads outside the walls; we left the walls when I was 10; a few months later, on my 11th birthday, I noticed a green flash of lightning and 2 explosive booms... I could tell the wall was breached... and swarms of Titans ran towards the direction of the broken gate which, evidently, we were between them and their destination. My parents and everyone else in the tribe were killed, while I was up in a giant tree in the forest we were living in. When all seemed lost, a flash of blood appeared everywhere, almost simultaneously, all the Titans fell... in front of me was a soldier from the Survey Corps... he brought me into Shigashina and we rested on the walls for a bit... his name was Justin Orne... is he a relative of yours?"

Complete silence followed her question... me and Jade nodded... I spoke in a fast tone, almost not understanding myself "Yes, he's my father... is he still alive? Did he die outside the wall after saving you? Do you know where he is?"

Swift looked confused and frowned, "I don't know... he kept saying 'I need to get to Dr. Yeagar' and 'My son is with his, they are safe with Dr. Yeagar' and 'Everything will be okay' he seemed to think that you might be safe and with this Dr. Yeagar and his son... he wanted me to come but I declined in confusion, I kept thinking about how my parents had died, right in front of my eyes... and how I didn't mourn them anymore... I simply felt hate for the Titans... he took me to Trost District, where the Garrison transferred me to Utopia District in the North." My father was alive... but he was still out there looking for me. I looked towards Swift who was beginning to tear up, "I'm sorry Nate... I didn't know."

I hugged her, immediately calming her down; she hugged me back and it felt great almost comforting to me too, but I could hear Jade growling behind me, but I ignored it as I said, "Swift, it's alright. He's okay... I mean he got lost outside the wall that day..." I backed up from Swift so Jade wouldn't go berserk on either of us, "he was said to be surrounded by Titans during the expedition, but... they said it was likely that he could've been dead... that he was outside the walls longer than usual... at least I know he's alive, but I have to put that aside right now. have to know more about people, like us, who weren't called; so far, we all have encountering Titans as a common factor. Do either of you girls know of anymore cadets that' weren't called?"

Swift nodded as she wiped her beautiful blue eyes, nearly repelling the sadness from them, "Yea, the guy next to me also wasn't called. Cua, I think his name was; he's over there, the really huge guy... he isn't that bright, but maybe the instructor thought twice before yelling at a brute that big..."

I nodded, taking it as a possible solution, "Maybe, but we still need to find out from him, we never know... let's go girls." I hoped they wouldn't rip each other apart before we got there. As we reached our destination stood a built 12 year-old man at 2.5 meters... he could've been a small Titan based off of all the information my dad had told me about the Titans... he looked like he had twice the build of a Roman Gladiator, from propaganda posters supporting kids to join the military; he had pitch-black hair and a dark tan skin color... he was the most unique person I've seen, "Hey Cua, I'm Nate Orne and this is Jade Calle, we are both from Shigashina District, you've already met Swift; where are you from?"

He looked at me with an odd smile blessed with ignorance, "I used to live in Wall Maria."

I nodded accepting his short reply, but feeling a bit unsatisfied I asked him, "Yea, but where exactly? Did you live in a village, a city, or a district?"

He was oddly dumbfounded by my question, "I just lived in Wall Maria... I moved from place to place... my parents died from a disease when I was little... and before you ask, I can't read or write... I'm useless." He had the face of a sad puppy, a sad enormous puppy.

Swift came up to him and gave him a hug as he bent down for her; she began patting his back trying to comfort him while saying, "It's okay big guy, don't worry, everyone's good at something. Anything and everything could be your strong suit, we'll find it out okay?" He smiled and nodded like a child, "Well, anyway, have you seen what the Titans do?"

He nodded in a half-glad half-sad manner, "Yea, it was horrible... I was around 10 kilometers from Shigashina... I could see smoke and everything... I thought that maybe there was a party with food... but I found out much later that the Titans somehow broke through the wall... I even killed 2 Titans that were a bit taller than me, like this tall," he indicated a Titan that was about 3 meters; he wasn't smartest person here, but he was definitely the toughest.

In shock Swift stepped back slipping and falling into Jade's arms; surprisingly Jade caught her, which meant she was calm, or at least was acting calm, I shook Cua's hand and turned so I could face everyone in our little group, "We all have something in common... we've all seen he terror the Titans bring... but we must pull past that... Cua if you want there is someone I know that can teach you to read and write... Jade, Swift, you girls need to be cool with each other, if not the next 3 years will be hell for all of us... we all need to make it... my father told me something important is in Shigashina District; it has to do with the Titans..."

Everyone stepped back in shock, except Jade who took a step towards me and said, "How do you know that, I thought that what he said was from a dream or that I was just imagining the whole thing."

I nodded, but how did I know; I tried and tried to remember, but all of it was blurred, "I don't really remember much, but he visited me sometime between the fall of Wall Maria and the operation to retake Wall Maria... he visited me and Jade with Dr. Yeagar... all I remember is my father holding me down trying to give me a shot... he kept yelling 'Nate I can't explain' and Dr. Yeager kept telling me, 'You got to help Eren take back Wall Maria' and he said something important about a basement... I think he said 'Dr. Yeagar's basement holds the truth to the Titans' then he injected me with something... how about you Jade? What do you remember?"

Jade began to scratch her head, and looked unsure of what had happened that night, "I don't know... except that while your father was holding you down he sad the shot would give you... an ability to do something... but we'd have to have a clear objective and hurt ourselves to activate it... but it would be dormant until some random event triggers it, other than the way to activate it... but nothing after that."

The tension within our own secluded little group of 'misfits' began to ease, I spoke calmly to reassure our objective, "Well is there anyone else who wasn't interrogated?"

A sign of life showed on Cua's face, "Yes, I thing there were 2 more; 1 of them is named Anthony White; he's standing in the corner all alone." I followed his enormously huge finger to an extremely white boy across the room standing about 1.7 meters tall; he had bright golden-blond hair and freckles, "He's from a village outside Shigashina District; he ran about 10 kilometers 'til I found him hiding in a building from 1 of the Titans I killed; he was all bloody and we ended up running all the way to Karanese District, on the east-side of Wall Rose; he's pretty fast and strong but he is easily scared and lazy."

I nodded and walked towards his direction saying, "Well let's go make another new member to our little group." I could hear Cua's giant footsteps and the silent bickering of Jade and Swift behind me, could things possibly get worse; as we began to close on him, I noticed that he had a still face showing no noticeable facial expression, except for indifference.

He turned to us and said, "Swift... is that you?" Swift's face immediately welcomed a surprise strangeness of confusion, as we all were right now, "Remember, we lived in the same village 'til your family decided to venture out into the world outside of the walls with the experimental group... the Military Police told the village that the group was entirely wiped out by Titans immediately the morning you guys left... after that nobody ever thought to leave the safety of the walls ever again... and well, a few months later Wall Maria was breached."

Swift stood confused, but she nodded and said, "Yea, we used to hang out with Annie Leonhart, Reiner Braun, and Beltrolt Hoover, right?"

He nodded vigorously, and opened his mouth to talk, but I interrupted him before he could sound out a syllable, "Sorry to break up your guys' reunion, but we need to let Anthony know that he has some 'common experience' as us," he froze and turned red, "we've all seen what the Titans do; you've met Cua and you seem to have known Swift, but this is Jade Calle and I'm Nate Orne, we're both from Shigashina... we've come to tell you that we are forming a group to insure that all of us graduate; no one else deserves to graduate more than us... not without actually experiencing the hell we have seen and gone through."

He again nodded, and said, "Yea, I understand what you mean."

I turned so that I would be facing the whole group and said, "Alright there is 1 person left, does anybody know who they are?"

Just then a familiar voice called my name, "Nate, it's been a long time." It was my cousin, Gino Sevi.

In shock I hugged him saying, "What are you doing here? Vivian would never let you join."

He smiled and said, "She's the one that told me you would be here, and I didn't want you to do this all alone." Typical Gino, always had to help me out to feel superior. Then his grin suddenly dropped, "Nate I'm sorry for your parents... I wished they were alive..."

I nodded, "My father is alright... Swift over here told me he saved her... my mother though... she's dead... but let me introduce you to the group; this is Jade Calle, the one I told you about, and this is Swift Fire, Anthony White, and the big guy is Cua."

Gino bowed his head in respect and shook all there hands while saying, "Nice to meet you all."

Cua then bent down and whispered in my ear, "He's the other one... you know, the other person who wasn't yelled at."

I gasped at Cua's revealing statement; I whispered back to Cua, "Are you sure?" and Cua just nodded; I turned to Gino and asked, "Gino have you encountered the Titans before?"

He nodded and blushed in a weird way, like his answer was almost embarrassing, "Yea I have... remember when we used to live together... when Vivian was stationed in Trost after graduating... well one day the Survey Corps went out on an expedition... and I ran out after them, unnoticed... then all I remember is that I was grabbed by a Titan, but your father cut of its hand saving me... but he didn't kill it... and after that day your dad had me transferred me to live with Vivian... but why does it matter?"

I stepped forward and told him, "Because it's the reason why you weren't yelled at... it's the reason why none of us here weren't called... we are the only ones here that have actually seen the Titans... the only ones that know how scary it is to face them... which is why we are all sticking together."

Gino nodded and said, "What about your friend, Norbert? And what about my friends, Casey Toni, Herman Esqui, and Ethan Gill? They can be all be useful... Norbert is super smart, as I remember, Casey is very competitive, even more than you and me, Herman is very strong, I've seen him beat up a Garrison soldier who assaulted his mother, and Ethan Gill is a strategic fighter, he visited Trost one day and he fought in an underground fighting tournament, made up mainly of adults, and he become the champion."

I thought and nodded, "I guess we could use more people... but if they do anything stupid, we cut them from the group. Okay"

Everybody nodded and we went to our sleeping quarters and rested for the next day.

**As I said before, I know that there isn't enough action but in a few chapters there will be lots of action and surprises, I can't wait. Anyway tune in to see the Top 10 of the 103rd Trainee Corps.  
Thanks for reading.**


	6. Ch 6: The Top 10

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

This is a fairly short chapter, but it's just the introduction of the next chapter, so sorry if you're disappointed, but please review/follow/favorite.

This is it the moment we all wait for in our lives. Graduation day, but nobody is more anxious for this day than the cadets of the 103rd Trainee Corps.

**Ch 6: The Top 10 - The Years After Wall Maria Part III**

(Instructor Bruce)

Today has finally arrived for the cadets in front of me... they were lined up like they were 2 years and 364 days ago... today and the days before they were just merely cadets in my eyes, but tomorrow they would be entrusted as soldiers... they stood in front of me, all 230 of them, anxious and nervous; today was the day that I had to choose the Top 10... I looked over the cadets, examining each of them, but I kept looking at the 10 that I know preformed better overall than anyone else... I had an already chose my top 10 after the first year, but now the list had been completely changed... the 10 I had now deserved to graduate, but the order was unable to be set, except for the the cadets that would be ranked 1st 2nd and 3rd; each of the remaining 10 deserved to be ranked anywhere between 4th and 10th. I cleared my throat and spoke to the cadets, "It has been a long tiresome journey for all of us, but it is not over yet; I will now begin to announce the 10 I have chosen to have the privilege to join the Military Police..." I read out the list of names of the top 10 cadets, and, one by one, each of them walked up to me in respect to their order in which they were called. I looked at each one examining why they deserved to be here through my head again.

_10. Casey Toni from Trost District: small muscular physique and low physical strength, but is superior in having heart and courage; very competitive and trustworthy among her fellow cadets; has no outstanding or superior abilities; causes unintentional jealousy among female cadets._

_9. Norbert Ven from Shigashina District: average muscular physique and average physical strength, but excels with his intelligence superiority in the classroom and training; has the ability to quickly adapt to his environmental needs, and makes him bad in a team-effort._

_8. Anthony White from Valor Village: superior but flabby physique and superior physical strength, has a great sense of smell which he can use to detect allies and possibly Titans, extremely skilled with 3-D maneuver gear, but he lacks the courage and tends to let fellow cadets shine._

_7. Gino Sevi from Trost District: average muscular physique and average physical strength; has a superior mental mind and uses it to assess his environment and any situation to benefit him and his team; tends to cause friction with 'inferior' cadets._

_6. Ethan Gill from Dauper Village: superior muscular physique and superior physical strength; superior at hand-to-hand combat; lacks speed and agility with 3-D maneuver gear; low focusing capabilities; tends to be controlled by sexual feelings and desires toward females._

_5. Herman Esqui from Trost District: superior muscular physique and superior physical strength; great agility and speed with 3-D maneuver gear; has dangerous anger issue when taunted or insulted by his fellow cadets and occasionally with his superior officers._

_4. Jade Calle from Shigashina District: small muscular physique, but superior in physical strength; is trustworthy among cadets in dangerous situations; can accurately asses dangerous environments and can avoid possible contact with enemies during combat situations; tends to be jealous with Nate's interactions with female cadets._

_3. Nate Oren from Shigashina District: average muscular physique and superior physical strength; extremely fast and agile with 3-D maneuver gear and flawless cut; amazing leader and fellow teammate that brings inspiration to his fellow cadets and future comrades._

_2. Cua from Wall Maria's interior: perfected muscular physique and physical strength unmatched by human records; is dim-witted but makes up by taking orders and specifically carrying them out._

_1. Swift Fire from Valor Village: small muscular physique, but has an immeasurable amount of strength, stamina, agility, and speed; best in all my years of service, even when I was the commander of the Survey Corps._

I now stood in front of what I considered 'Humanity's Last Hopes' and I saluted them saying, "You 10 represent the best of what the 103rd Trainee Corps has to offer to the king... tomorrow you all will be choosing the military branch you will be in for the remainder of your life, unless you demand a request to be transferred to another branch, but that might not be permitted, so choose wisely."

**I looked forward to this day all my life, next chapter they will choose the military branch they will serve, and there will be action in Chapter 8, I am already in the process of writing it.  
Thanks for reading.**


	7. Ch 7: Their Choice

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

This chapter isn't as long as I wanted it to be, but it is actually what I wanted it to be, I apologize in advanced for any language that anyone reading might find offensive, but that's writing for you.

Please review/follow/favorite, I am open to criticism.

**Ch 7: The Choice - The Years After Wall Maria Part IV**

(Nate Orne)

Today was finally it, the day we chose what we would do for the rest of our lives, or if we lived long enough, the rest of our service. The day we waited for, the day some of us died for, we didn't expect how long the journey would take, yet yesterday felt like we just joined, I was one of the people in the top 10. Me and my whole group of misfits had made up the whole top 10. I felt so good, but me Norbert and Jade should've eased up let other people make it, since we were just joining the Survey Corps or Garrison whether we were in the top 10 or not, but since we were in the top 10 it meant more people would be on the front lines, and we needed that or, statistically speaking, 30% of the remaining 220 would join the Survey Corps, the rest would join the Garrison. I stood alone, and watched the members of my group, as every cadet was in the mess hall; Jade was with Herman in the middle of the room, showing him why she was ranked higher than him as they fought; Norbert with Casey sitting on the table closest to the exit looking at each other, disappointed; Cua and Ethan were in the middle of a group, laughing at something that was probably stupider than it was funny; Gino was in a corner by himself, studying lists of strategies and formations, trying to understand them and be able to explain them as if he had written them himself; Swift and Anthony were at an empty table in the most secluded area in the room, discussing something serious without making any eye contact with each other. I stood alone and began to sit as I stared down at the floor, questioning myself and my decision to join the Survey Corps, wanting to change my mind. I wanted to join the Military Police; whichever I joined the rest of my group would as well because I was like their leader, and they would follow my lead without question, this wasn't their choice, I was the one deciding their fate. I wanted them safe, but I didn't want to hold them back. I looked up to see a small group of cadets, looking down at me with rage. As I stood up I realized they were each a bit taller than I was, and they began saying, "Why weren't we in your group?" and "What makes you so special?" but worst of all one of them shouted, "You just wanted to join the Military Police, while the rest of us have to face Titans!" he then swung his fist at me, but I caught his fist and flipped him onto his back.

I picked him up and slammed him against the wall, "You don't know what your up against! You haven't even seen the way they kill people, or they are willing to put in extra work and ask for help, that's why you scum aren't in my group, and you don't have the mind-set or mentality to be in my group! And fuck the Military Police, they aren't soldiers, they are just a bunch of scared pussies! Half of my group has seen more Titans than any soldiers from the Military Police, heck one of the cadets in my group has killed more Titans than the whole Military Police has in the past 107 years!" I looked around as the room was now in dead silence with all eyes on me; I was surrounded by all the cadets in the room, but I was too pissed to care, I just continued to yell, "You guys probably came here to fit in, but not me; 3 years ago I came here to learn how to fight Titans, I'm not going to waste what I've learned here by joining the Military Police or Garrison, that's bullshit, if you want to waste your talent go ahead, be the bitch you secretly are, but if you want to use your talent, come with me and serve he people by being a soldier of he Survey Corps!" I put him down, and brushed him off apologizing for my harshness, but he simply nodded and ran away.

A sudden blast of a thundering voice crashed through the room, "All cadets, the Graduation Ceremony is about to begin!" We all turned to see Instructor Bruce in the doorway, "Everybody report to Stage 1 on the eastern side of the training facility!" everybody saluted, "As you were." I was reluctant as everyone headed for the door, thinking of what I had said to the group of idiots; what if anyone in my group wanted to join the Military Police, and now were thinking that I would be disappointed in them, especially since they respected my opinion.

I began to walk towards the door when somebody had grabbed my shoulder; I grabbed their hand and twisted it behind their back, thinking it was the idiot from earlier trying to get the upper hand on me while my back was turned, but all I saw was her red-gold hair, and she pulled her arm which sent me flipping, landing me on my feet then ass; I looked up to see Swift and, behind her, the rest of the group, all looking down at me. I immediately stood up and said, "What do you guys want?" I could tell I sounded harsh, but I was already pissed and I didn't need anymore shit from anybody, not even from them.

"Nate, do you want us to join the Survey Corps?" Swift said in a serious tone, as she put her hand on my shoulder again; I turned to the rest of the group, who were looking at me with anxiety and fear as they watch the question hit me, "Would you think any less of us if we didn't?" I vigorously shook my head, "Then explain to us what that was all about."

"Swift, guys, you all know the system of the Military Police is corrupt right?" They all looked at each other and nodded, "Then why do people join it for? Because they are afraid of the Titans, and when some idiots like them infer that I go this far so I can pussy out and live further in the walls by joining the Military Police, it makes me so mad that I can't control myself, and it makes me remember what happened in Shigashina. There was this kid, Eren Jaegar, that lived there as well, I watched as his mother was eaten by a Titan, right in front of my eyes and I just stood there frightened; I became too scared to do anything, too scared to even move a muscle. The same thing happened to Jade when she saw our mothers get eaten; we both came here to make sure that never happened again, to make sure we never hesitated, not to flee further inside the walls, and now I finally know what I want to do, I want to join the Survey Corps; but if any of you want to join the Military Police, then join, you all earned that right, but never forget our training and never forget the time we spent together." They all nodded, Casey started to cry and Norbert began to comfort her as he was on the edge of crying, and the rest of the group stood scared as hell, sweat running down their faces, as it did mine; but I didn't care anymore, at least I tried not to show it, "Let's go... we're going to be late."

* * *

(Narrator)

It was finally here, the 230 cadets of the 103rd Trainee Corps saluted in front of Stage 1, a young man stepped onto the stage; calm blue eyes and perfect blond hair; Nate, Jade, and Norbert knew him before as he was just simply a soldier of the Survey Corps and as the last person to see Nate's father, but he was now standing on Stage 1 as the commander of the Survey Corps, Commander Erwin Smith; he now stood on the middle of the stage with perfect posture, indifference on his face, and and care in his eyes; he cleared his throat and spoke in a calm firm, " I am the Ninth Commander of the Survey Corps, Commander Erwin Smith; I am here to encourage and persuade you to join the Survey Corps, but I'd rather give you some much needed information," the place became extremely silent, not even the crickets were chirping; the cadets could hear each others' heartbeats, making the tension rise with each beat, "We are going on an expedition in 2 months, we've estimated that 20% of the new recruits, that join, will perish during this expedition, and in a year only 5% of you will be alive, but if you survive, your survivability rate and skills will substantially rise; those of who join, will be given the utmost honor of being a shield of humanity and will be given a chance to give the Titans all they deserve. So if you still choose to join, stay where you are standing... if you choose to join another branch, you are given permission to leave." Suddenly there were loud sounds of footsteps, as cadets were beginning to leave; Nate kept thinking about leaving, but images of blood filled his head, he remembered his pledge. The other members of his group felt like leaving as well. Swift, Jade, Gino, and Norbert stood on both sides of Nate, seeing the fear in his face, their fearless leader was drowning in fear, which made them want to leave, but he stood still, and so did they; Nate always knew best and they were ready to follow him once again. Cua stood, clearly, because he didn't know where to go, but even if he did, he wanted to stay where Nate was. Ethan and Herman were quaking in fear, wanting to run, but they began to remember their first day and the punishments they had for the past 3 years for the mistakes of others and each other, they figured that since they were able to handle the 3 years of torture, they could handle what the Survey Corps had for them. Anthony and Casey began to walk away, bu they stopped and began looking at each other, one looked away and continued to walk away while the other turned and stayed. Once everybody who decided to leave were gone, an astonishing 129 cadets remained; Anthony was the one who decided to stay, while Casey chose to leave in order to join the Military Police. Among the cadets, some began to cry, regretting the choice they had made, while others were merely exhumed by fear and were left motionless. Nate and his groups of misfits, however, were smiling with anxiety, their fear was gone, and they were ready to fight against Titans, they were ready to die. Commander Erwin smiled, "I like the looks on your faces. It brings me confidence to see more than half of the cadets here. I give you all my heart-felt respect," he saluted, "this is how you salute, now show me your hearts!" Simultaneously everybody saluted and shouted; it was over; they had made their choice and, in 2 months, they would face the reality of true combat; they would be ready by then, but if they weren't, they would suffer the same fate as the people who stood were they stood many years ago, buried in the ground.

**They have finally made their decision, but next chapter will reveal what has happened, 11 months later, since they have made their choice, I am in progress of writing the next chapter, and it is filled with tons of action and shocking twists.  
Thanks for reading.**


	8. Ch 8: The Survey Corps

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

This chapter isn't as long as I wanted it to be, but it is actually what I wanted it to be, it is important to the story and it sets the tone for the rest of the story.

Please review/follow/favorite, I am open to criticism.

**Ch: 8 The Survey Corps - Outside Wall Rose Part I**

(Nate Orne)

It has been about 11 months since we graduated; we have lost about 80% of our fellow recruits during our first 6 months; we have almost completed our task of finding a safe and secure route from Trost District to Shigashina; after the first expedition I had proven myself, at least to Commander Erwin, to be an excellent leader and respectable soldier, that he gave me full command of an entire squad, my choice of soldiers of course. He gave me a list of about 100 soldiers, and, after scanning over it for a few hours, I had chosen 4 soldiers, 3 of my fellow recruits and 1 veteran; the members of Squad Orne were the following: my friends Jade and Norbert, my cousin Gino, and Alexi Blood, a well-respected and well-praised veteran. Commander Erwin was also impressed with Swift after the first expedition and also gave her a squad, Squad Swift, and the members were our close friends Anthony, Herman, Ethan, and Cua; all them big guys that she could kill with the simple flick of her pinky. Our squads would constantly compete against each other in killing Titans, Squad Orne had 172 kills (Me: 43, Jade: 35, Norbert: 34, Gino: 32, Alexis: 28) and Squad Swift had 173 kills (Swift: 43, Anthony: 27, Herman: 30, Ethan: 31, Cua: 42), however we realized that the competition got in the way with the death of Alexis, and many other squads began to get killed off, which made Nate ask Commander Erwin to merge Squad Orne and Squad Swift, he allowed it naming the squad Squad SwiftOrne, but me and Swift would have to fight to be the captain of the squad.

Today, a month before the expedition, the sun was beginning to set, the air was becoming dead cold, and all eyes were on us, me and Swift; we stood facing each other, her moonlight blue eyes began to darken with their focus on me; I knew all her tricks; she liked to dictate the fight, so I had to use it to my advantage; Gino told me she had a tendency to launch all her strength, and told me I had to let her make the first move; Norbert told me to avoid her hits as much as possible, because it would throw her off balance; Jade simply told me to kick her ass, mainly by using my surroundings and to try to be close to walls, for jumping purposes, but to avoid getting cornered. It was finally time for the battle to start. I was about to fight the strongest soldier I had ever knew, besides Levi and Cua, and she was the fastest and most energized, but she didn't know her strengths were also her weaknesses.

Levi stepped in between us and said viciously, "You both are fine leaders, worthy of being captains of this squad, but Commander Erwin has decided a fight would better demonstration of leadership and has instructed me to allow you to fight until severe injury, or death, whichever comes first, and I will be the judge of what is severe and what isn't; try not to make a mess, I don't want to touch a bloody corpse. I'll call the fight off when I feel it's over, you brats get it?" We both nodded, he then walked and climbed onto his pedestal; I began to scan the surrounding, trying to find anything that I could find useful. The pit was 3 meters deep and 25 meters wide, the floor was pure dirt, nothing was strategically useful except the walls. It felt like I was about to fight in an arena, "Fight!" we ran towards each other, Swift swung and I slid under her arm, directly turning around and threw a punch, hitting her directly in the face without moving it; she then grabbed my hand and threw me toward the wall, 8 meters away; I stood up and Swift was sprinting towards me, full throttle, and again she swung, but again I dodged it; her hand was now stuck in the wall; the familiar images of blood and Titans appeared in my head again, but this time it was of Gino, Jade, and Norbert; I vigorously started to rain punches on Swift thinking 'It's for my squad. It's for my squad. She would do the same.' a fist hit me in the face, sending me flying 3 meters away; it was her free hand, and she then used it to pull her hand out; she was bleeding, her nose was broken; I was covered in her blood and my cheekbone and one of my ribs were cracked; I had to end it now, any longer and one of us would be beyond repair. I taunted her by smirking, showing no pain or despair; her eyes became black slits, she launched herself towards, her fist erect for a landing; I dodged it, grabbed her leg, and spun her toward the wall, 10 meters away; unexpectedly, she bounced off it and back to me; I ducked and shot my fist up at her knee, and felt it crack in my hand; I broke her leg and the crack echoed across the field; she crashed hard and Levi shouted, "We have a winner and new captain of Squad SwiftOrne, Captain Nate!" everybody stood up and cheered, except for me, I walked up to Swift, who was on the floor holding her leg; she didn't scream, but she was obviously in pain; I picked her up and ran to the infirmary.

On the way I looked down at Swift, guilty I said, "I'm sorry Swift, it wasn't personal, I needed to end the fight, rather than having either of us getting killed." I was ashamed of myself, at the moment she had her hand stuck in the wall, I was willing to beat her to death, and I nearly did, I threw away my humanity to win, I almost threw away Swift's life to win.

She laughed, weirdly, "Nate, it's okay. You had to do what you had to do, but if you didn't do it, this would be you, and I'd be carrying you feeling guilty, but you would forgive me; at least I know the group is safe in your hands as your 1st priority, Captain Nate," She reached up and kissed me on the cheek, "Think of it this way, you can't change anything if you aren't willing to lose anything, even if you have nothing to lose." we smiled, I stopped and kissed, I would not forget that moment, nor would I forget what she had told me.

* * *

The expedition had started 2 hours ago from Trost District, I was with Commander Erwin and Captain Levi as the commander had ordered the retreat; according to the Titan migration north, Trost had been breached; we were riding full speed, until a messenger pulled up next to me, it was Squad Kaiser's Captain Kaiser Williams, "Captain Nate, your squad is being held up in the Forest of Giant Trees, south of here!" I stopped immediately turning myself, "My squad was annihilated, but I came here to get reinforcements." I nodded and began to ride south at full speed.

"Captain Nate, please continue retreating to Trost," I stopped turning back to see Commander Erwin on his white stallion, "If we don't get back to Trost in time, we could possibly be risking Wall Rose getting breached by the Armored Titan, just like in Shigashina."

I nodded, still turned to him, waiting, "Commander Erwin, with all due respect, I understand what you are saying, but I don't want to wonder if they are alive or dead, not like with my father," he bowed his head, almost in regret, "but I don't blame you; it was his decision, and this is mine; if they are dead, I will at least know, and I will immediately go to Trost and assist in it's defense."

Commander Erwin nodded saying, "If they're alive, bring them back, we will probably need as much soldiers as possible," he turned, "think of this as a repayment for your father's disappearance and my negligence." I saluted and rode into the direction of the Forest of Giant Trees, south of Trost; my squad would be fine, they are all alive, we will all make it back, alive.

**Come back for the next chapter to see who's going to live and who's going to die. Secrets will be revealed and a mysterious Titan might make its debut.  
Thanks for reading.**


	9. Ch 9: The Forest of Giant Trees

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

This chapter isn't as long as I wanted it, but it is very important and satisfying. Thank everybody who has gotten this far, it really means a lot to me.

Please review/follow/favorite, I am open to criticism.

**Ch 9: The Forest of Giant Trees - Outside Wall Rose Part II**

(Swift Fire)

We were deep in the Forest of Giant Trees, surrounded by Titans; we had taken refuge in the trees, as Norbert and Gino had advised; our horses had fled, leaving us stranded without the means of transportation outside of the forest; the trees were all we had to keep us safe and alive, but the squad needed a leader without Nate here; I knew I had to take charge, I turned to Jade and yelled, "Status report, Jade what's the situation of the soldiers of Squad Kaiser?"

Jade sprung onto the branch I was standing on, "They've all been wiped out, only Captain Kaiser survived, but him having the only horse went to send a message to Commander Smith to send more reinforcements; you are in charge due to Nate's absence, Captain Swift." Jade saluted; she finally had respect for me, "But if you or any of your decisions lead to any deaths, casualties, or in anyway puts this squad in danger, I will single-handedly remove your head and replace you as Captain." Or maybe she didn't entirely respect me yet, "What are you orders?"

I looked at the rest of my squad, all their eyes on me, waiting for my decision as they would if I were Nate, "We will remain here, at least until Captain Nate comes back with reinforcements," the squad all nodded acknowledging my order; I turned to Gino and asked him, "Gino how many flares do we got?"

Gino rummaged into his bag as well as everyone else's counting the green, red, yellow, and black flares, "We have 360 green flares, 45 red flares, 180 yellow flares, and 180 black flares. We can ration them every 15 minutes; I'll fire a green flare right now." He reached into his bag grabbing a round and loaded the flare-gun and shot it up at the sky. "It shouldn't take too long for Captain Nate to find us, but when he does, we will have to figure out how we're going to make our escape from this forest, since we don't have any means of transportation that'll get us back into the wall, but if we aren't able to, we have enough food here to last us about a month and enough gas to go from Trost to Wall Sina; we might be lost, but we'll live."

I nodded, "You all will wait until Captain Nate comes back; I'm going to go to the entrance of the forest, in the north, and try to see if I can see Captain Nate or any of our horses; Cua, Anthony, you guys are coming with me," Cua, Anthony, and I began to swing north, and I turned yelling, "Avoid contact unless absolutely necessary; Jade is in-command." I might not like Jade and she might not like me, but I trusted her and I needed to gain her trust.

* * *

(Jade Calle)

An hour had passed since Swift, Cua, and Anthony had left, "Gino, fire another green flare!" I shouted; he nodded reaching for another round, reloading the flare-gun and firing it. As I looked around, the remaining members of the squad were bored, but still well aware of the situation we were facing. I looked to Norbert and Gino, as they were adjusting everybodys' gear to require less gas to move and began to plan out several escape routes, in case anything went wrong, "Norbert, you're in-charge, I'm going to go see what's happened." I went to him and Gino, grabbing my gear and began putting on the harness, "Anybody who doesn't listen, will regret being in this squad." Everybody nodded and I was on my way, swinging to the next branch.

"Jade, take this!" Norbert threw me a flare-gun with a red flare loaded, "Use it if you get in any danger, we'll come to get you." I nodded, and sprung off the branch and continued to my destination, passing trees with great speed; Norbert and Gino had improved my gear to the point I was going as fast as a horse at full speed, with little gas; after 10 minutes I saw a small figure accompanied by 2 huge figures; it had to be Swift and the guys.

I landed on the branch they were on, startling them as I said, "Swift, how's the scouting been going?" She looked at me with an annoyance surprised face, "I left Norbert in charge; him and Gino are adjusting everybody's gear, it really helps; I actually came to see if anything has happened."

Swift looked at me with a reassuring calm smile, "Cua, Anthony, return to the squad; have Norbert and Gino adjust your gears. Jade will stay with me here." They nodded and sprung off to the group; after a minute Swift broke the silence, "So tell me Jade, do you hate me merely because I like Nate? Or is there something else?" She wanted to get into this right now, at a time like this.

I shook my head, "No, well not quite, but it doesn't help when you're always flirting with him; we kind of have a thing, you know, not a relationship but something, I don't know though."

She laughed, "I know you do, but I can't help it; he's really been the only guy who's been nice to me, and you know he's a role model, the leader everybody wants to be; I'm sorry if it makes you jealous, but I've never had somebody like him around." She just kept curling her beautiful red-gold hair, staring into me with her blue eyes, trying to relate to me, like Nate would.

I smiled at her, if she was trying to put our differences aside, then I should try to, "I get it, Nate is that kind of guy that only Titans can hate, and you don't have to be sorry; it's my fault, I know I can be a controlling bitch sometimes, but I really want us to be friends, honest."

Swift laughed, "No you're not a bitch, you're really a nice person, on the inside, but everybody has a bad side, if they don't then they're fake." she started to frown, "Jade I need to tell you something," she cleared her throat, "I don't know how to say this, but my name isn't Swift Fire. It's Amity Campbell, I'm from Shigashina District." I stood shocked, she started to cry, "I lied about myself to hide the pain I feel for my family, I was eaten by a Titan, as were my parents, right in front of my sister, Verity. I hate remembering it, I hate thinking that she might have been eaten, too. I was saved by Nate's father though, outside the wall. I am telling you this because I trust you, more than anybody else, so please keep it a secret, don't call me Amity, though. It still hurts when I remember that day."

I nodded and hugged Swift, "It's okay Swift, I understand, we all are trying to forget about our pasts, but you don't have to go through this alone; trust me, I'm here for you, and don't worry; my lips are sealed, nobody will ever hear about this."

We heard a sudden bang of a sound flare from the north and saw Nate being chased by a fast crawling Titan, about 10 meters in height, while Nate was holding 7 horses with rope, "Nate just let go of the horses!" Me and Swift swung down and began running to Nate, but 2 Titans appeared in front of us, the left 13 meters and the right 12, running towards Nate. Me and Swift used are gear, though it would prove virtually impossible without trees or buildings, and shot our hooks at the Titans. Swift killed hers, almost immediately after shooting her hook and jumped on mine, as I killed it. We were now surrounded by a herd of 6 Titans, forcing us to swing up to the nearest trees, about 10 meters away from us.

We turned to see that Nate was inside the mouth of the Crawling Titan, holding it open with all his strength as he yelled, "Get the horses," I took the flare-gun out of my bag and fired the red flare, I couldn't tell from his face since he was far away, but he was crying, "Jade, I love you! I always have!" He was 30 meters away, he began to reach out his hand, but as he did the Titan viciously shut its mouth before his hand could be free, and the Titan swallowed him whole. Nate was dead…

* * *

(Gino Sevi)

We saw Jade's red flare from the North about 3 minutes after Cua and Anthony returned; right when I was going to fire another green flare, I finished adjusting Cua's gear as I turned yelling to Norbert, "Norbert that has to be Jade," I then handed Cua his gear, saying "We have to go, all of us, she has to be in danger."

Norbert finished and handed Anthony his gear, concern on his face he managed to say, "Let's go then. Gino, you take the lead, you're the quickest person we got here." I nodded and was off, "Everybody follow Gino's lead, full speed ahead! Jade's in trouble."

We swung for about 5 minutes until I could hear 2 feminine screams; it was Jade and Swift, "Guys I think I can hear them! They sound like their in a shit load of trouble, I'm engaging!" I reached the end of the forest's entrance, and saw straight ahead that Swift and Jade were on horses with 5 horses following them, but they were being chased by 6 Titans, each about 10 meters tall, "Norbert, Swift and Jade have about 7 horses, but they are being chased by numerous Titans; I'm going to try and get some of them off!" I swung along the forest's exterior and shot my hook at the Titan in the front, bouncing off its head, swinging around, and cutting its nape, making it fall instantly and trip the Titans that were running behind it, in mid-air I yelled to them, "Jade, Swift, hurry; I'll try to keep them off you for as long as I can!"

Jade turned back yelling, "Be careful! Captain Nate was eaten by a Titan!" I froze, looking back at them, my cousin had been eaten, but I couldn't mourn his death right now. I landed in the plains 20 meters from the trees; without any tall structures I was defenseless, in terms of environmental needs, but I had all the necessary resources needed to survive, self-determination, rage, and intelligence.

I shot my hooks at a 14 meter Titan still on the floor, "C'mon you little shit! What's wrong? Got a bit tripped up, I see!" I was enraged, Nate wasn't the one meant to die, just as I moved towards the Titan, it leaped at me and chomped down on me, immediately swallowing me after, I yelped in pain "AH!" it had bitten off my feet. I landed at the base of the Titan's stomach, and began crying, "It's over," I whispered, "At least everybody else is fine." I sat as could feel the heat of the Titan's stomach

I suddenly began to remember something I didn't even knew happened, 'Gino, I can't tell you what is happening now, Dr. Jaegar has told me not to; he said you won't remember much of what I am saying, but I'm sorry. I want you to be able to survive in this world, so you must learn to control this, if you want to survive; remember go to Shigashina… we have a camp on the wall, ask for Oscar tell him Vivian sent you.' the flashback was of Vivian, she injected me with something. It looked like the day I went to visit her after my first expedition.

I closed my eyes, crying I yelled, "Vivian, I'm sorry… I've failed, I couldn't do as you wished, I couldn't survive! Nate, he isn't here to save me now! He's dead, the Titans killed him! They killed him!" I began to hit the Titan from the inside, drawing my blades, I screamed "I kill you! If I ever get out of here, I'll kill you all!"

I heard a sudden boom from outside of the Titan, followed by a loud roar, "I'll kill you all!" it was the sound of a Titan, it was talking. I blacked out, from my wounds, this was the end of me, and I won't even get to see my sister ever again.

**Yes this is how it ends, it kills me to kill the main character and his cousin, especially since they basically represent me and my little brother, but comeback next week to see what the Titan is, and see if it really is a Titan after all.**  
**Thanks for reading.**


	10. Ch 10: The Titans

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

This chapter is my favorite so far, I still can't believe I killed off 2 of my characters, it makes me so sad since I created these characters myself and based off me and my brother. Read to see who the Talking Titan is.

Please review/follow/favorite, I am open to criticism.

Also read/follow SwiftFire100's _A Story About Love _and it's mid-sequel _Her Year of Happiness_; and read/follow our collab account SwiftOre and our story _Through the HellGate - Verity's Choice_

**Ch 10 The Titans - Outside Wall Rose Part III**

(Norbert Ven)

We all stood in silence and distraught after hearing Jade tell us the news of Nate's death, and as Swift was trying to follow the Titan that ate Gino, hoping she could save him somehow. As we stared at the Titan that ate Nate, a sudden blast of lightning struck it and a huge explosion followed; emerging from the Titan was another Titan, roaring the words, "I'll kill you all!" The Titan, it talked.

Everybody was left in shock, Ethan started to mumble, "What did it say?" he began to stumble forward falling to his knees, "Did it just talk, I didn't know that they could talk… I didn't." The Titan continued screaming and began attacking and squashing the Titans around it.

Jade began to laugh, almost maniacally, screaming, "It's Nate. I don't know for sure, but I think the Titan is Nate somehow. It even has his chocolate brown hair, and it has his cute nose and thin chin; we got to help it, Nate could still be inside." The Titan continued fighting until the Titans attacking it were pummeled to nothing more than evaporating flesh. It stood still and began to turn green, starting to blend into the grassy plains surrounding it, after it was invisible we could only see the steam emitting from its wounds, until they were fully healed.

Anthony began sniffing, as he would to detect any other Titan, "I can't smell it anymore, not even a little," he began to coughing, nearly on the edge of barfing, "I can smell Swift though, she has something with her, and it reeks." We all turned to see Swift covered in blood and other indescribable fluid, holding a similar looking figure. It was Gino, and he was unconscious and feetless.

I grabbed him from Swift's hands, "Let me bandage his feet up, he'll bleed out if we don't." I began examining his appearance, trying to see what kind of condition he was in; he was turning pale white, meaning he had lost a lot of blood, but he was extremely hot, almost feverish and I noticed that steam was emitting from where his feet once were, almost like he was regenerating like a Titan, but that couldn't be it, I turned to Swift and asked, "Swift, why are his feet steaming? How hot was it inside of the Titan's stomach?" Everybody turned to see Gino's steaming nubs, but as Swift came to observe, Gino's feet had grown back, right before everybody's eyes, and he was beginning to regain his color, I began touching his feet, "What the fuck just happened? It's like, he's a Titan." I nearly puked at the thought of it, but instead I put him aside and peered under the branch, seeing Titans underneath, trying to climb the tree, "How long have they been here? I'm surprised that other Titan hasn't gotten to them yet. Unless it actually disappeared. It would explain what happened with the Colossal Titan and Armored Titan."

A sudden roar echoed across the forest, "I'll kill you all!" the Titan suddenly appeared next to the other Titans, and began to attack the Titans underneath us, delivering blows and tearing at their flesh, "Nobody is going to attack my squad!" The Titan was Nate, "I'll kill you all before that happens!" Nate was ripping the Titans apart, limb by limb, leaving only shreds of Titan flesh, then stomping down on the remains with great force, until Nate began breathing heavily. He slowly fell to his hands and knees, but still he continued punching the Titan flesh on the floor for another 10 minutes, as we just watched in amaze and wonder that the Titan before us was actually Nate. He finally collapsed with one final roar, "I'll kill all the Titans! Even if it kills me!"

Cua jumped down next to the Titan, kicking it while saying, "I think he's dead," then a sudden sound of ripping flesh echoed, followed by steam emitting from the Titan's nape, and in it was Nate attached to the Titan's spinal cord by flesh without his gear; Cua in clear happiness screamed, "I'll get him!" He was the only one that didn't understand the seriousness of the situation, but he was followed by Jade and Swift. Nate and Gino were both alive, but they were human Titans. They were Titan-Shifters.

* * *

(Nate Orne)

'If you two don't learn to control it, everything will wither away in your hands; everything around you, everything you will fight for, everything you care for, will be nothing more than ash and dust.' my father's voice echoed through my head as I began to remember what he had said to me and Jade that day, the day I last saw him, but where was he now? My vision slowly faded, as I remembered being eaten by the Titan, where was I? Was I dead?

I should be dead, but all I could hear was whispers and murmurs, but internally I could hear, "I'll kill them all!" it was a familiar voice, but I couldn't remember who's voice it was or how I even knew it was familiar. I opened my eyes to see blades drawn at my face with everyone from my squad at the other ends, except for Jade and Norbert who were probably dead or missing, I could feel a flare-gun pressed against my head. Where ever I was, I wanted to know what the fuck was going on. I looked around and could see the green scenery of the forest, so I had somehow ended up in the forest, but why I had blades pointed towards me and why my gear was gone was unknown.

I tried moving my hands, but they were excellently tied up with rope; I heard a sudden blast of a sharp voice, "Captain Nate, stay still. If you make any sudden movements, I will have no choice but to give the order to have you killed," it was Swift, "Now I'll ask you this once, so think carefully about your answer. What are you, a human or a Titan?"

I began to laugh, they were trying to fuck with me, I blurted out, "Okay guys, this is very funny, but seriously, put your blades down, you're going to hurt me," but nobody budged, and I realized Gino was laying next to me, unconscious and tied up, "What the hell is this guys!? Are you fucking kidding me!? Why is Gino tied up!? What the hell is going on!?"

Swift stepped forward and kicked me, square in the head, then she drew one of her blades and said, "Look at this. It should jog your memory." She untied me and grabbed my hand, shooting down her blade, cutting my hand clean off. I screamed in pain, but then steam started to come from my wound, followed by a weird sensation that my hand was still there, and once the steam was gone, a new hand was there. I began to move it, trying to see if it was real or just a figment of my imagination, "Now tell me, are you a Titan or not!?" I sat silent, unable to respond due to shock, still trying to contemplate the regeneration of my hand, "Oh so you don't want to talk," She kicked me in the side of the head again, sending my head straight into the tree behind me, I was beginning to lose consciousness after I hit the tree, "We'll ask you again later. This should give you time to think of your answer." I woke up after what seemed like forever, again tied up with rope, but loosely, "Nate can you hear me? Sorry for the kick, but this squad is my first priority, as it was yours, so I'll ask once more, think hard about your answer. Are you a Titan or human?"

I shook off the headache I had on my right temple, immediately, and looked up at my squad members, thinking of both Jade and Norbert, they were probably dead because of me, I needed to tell them the truth, for them, "I guess I am, but I have never known I was one, not until now, I give you my honest word. Do what you must with me, I understand the present risk of harboring me. Kill me, but say I died for humanity's sake, it's the closest to the truth without being false and causing any further problems for you guys." Everybody lowered their blades from me and the person behind me removed the flare-gun from my head; I turned to see who it was since everybody else was in front of me, except for Norbert and Jade; it was Jade with a sign of relief on her face.

Swift nodded and turned to Gino, "I believe you Nate, I really do, but what about Gino?" I looked at her with shock, she was accusing Gino of being a Titan as well, or was she accusing him of helping me? She spoke with the same harshness as before, "Have you been keeping knowledge that your cousin and our fellow soldier, Gino Sevi, is also a Titan?"

I couldn't tell if she was serious or testing me, I needed to be honest. I shook my head, "No, I haven't because he isn't. I never saw a sign or anything that would deem him suspicious, neither have I concealed information about him, nor any other member of my squad. He isn't a Titan as far as I know." She was bluffing, she probably wanted to see if I would use Gino as a scapegoat for my own benefit, at least that's what I hoped she was doing.

She nodded, sighing, "Well, we'll have to ask him ourselves, at least when he wakes up. It turns out, unfortunate as it is, that we don't know as much about each other as we thought we did, it would be a shame if we had to kill either of you off for lying. Jade take Nate away, Gino is starting to wake up, and I don't want Gino to suspect Nate is alive. We are going to see if what Nate was saying is true." Jade nodded, grabbing me and swinging to the next tree. I looked back to see Norbert behind Gino, loading a flare-gun. They were willing to kill us if they thought we were lying. I had to hope that Gino wouldn't try to pin this on me, or conceal anything we already knew.

* * *

(Gino Sevi)

'Gino don't hate me for the choices I have made, I am trying to undo the atrocity I have helped cause, please forgive me.' Vivian's voice echoed through my head realizing I wasn't dead or in the Titan anymore as I opened my eyes. I woke to see at least 6 figures in front of me, none of them were Norbert or Jade, so it meant they were dead. As I tried to get up I was immediately struck down with a foot, unable to block it since my hands were tied. Everybody aimed their blades at me, to my surprise, and another person from behind pressed a flare-gun to my head and I no longer had my gear on. Swift was the only one without her blades drawn and she walked towards me, "Gino we have a few questions for you, if you answer truthfully, I'll spare you, if you don't I'll have you killed at the spot," I gazed up, wide-eyed, wondering what she was talking about, "I'll ask you this once, are you a human or a Titan?"

I gasped, looking for any sign of a bluff on everybody's faces, but I found nothing, simply replying, "No. I am not. I swear it on my life, and the life of the rest of the remaining members of the squad and on the deceased." I bowed my head, ready to lose it, "If you don't believe me do as you wish, but I wish to be with my cousin now, if he didn't make it, why should I?" I began sobbing lightly, my cousin was dead and there was nothing I could've done to save him.

I looked up at Swift, she was lightly smiling, "Alright everyone, put your weapons down." Everybody simultaneously withdrew their blades from my face, the flare-gun pressed to my head was now off. I turned back to see Norbert, now standing at ease as sweat began falling carelessly down his face, "Now I'll ask you one final question, if you answer truthfully you will be spared. Did Nate ever conceal anything about you? Anything that might suggest you are a traitor in any way?" I shook my head, continueing to sob heavier than before, "Alright, I believe you. Jade! Bring Nate over!" I looked at the direction Swift yelled towards, and swinging was Jade and in her arms was Nate, tied up like me, I quickly glanced back at Swift, as Norbert cut me loose, "I believe that there is no doubt that both of you are telling the truth, but I can tell you both have remembered something the minute you woke from whatever memory you were reliving." I looked at Nate, he was now untied like me, the same look in his eyes as mine, we both turned back to Swift and nodded.

I tried to talk, but Nate's voice broke out first, "I actually remember more about the last day me and Jade saw my father, but I don't remember much of what he said, but he said if me and Jade didn't learn how to control it, everything would wither away in our hands. So Jade must be a Titan too, but so far it hasn't affected her. I remember though, I had to bite my thumb, self-mutilation helps the transformation." Nate lifted his hand, "I could help us get out of here, but I it kills me to do it, I have to wait to transform again."

Everybody nodded and turned to me, as I revealed my memory, "Vivian had me injected, like Nate and Jade, saying she was sorry for what she had done in the past, she never said what she was actually sorry for though, but I can guess it has to do with the breaching of Wall Maria," Everybody stood silent, flabbergasted by the new information I had revealed, "but she said she was working to undo it; she might be trying to prevent the Titan's advancement into the wall."

Nate stepped forward, "Maybe, but we need to get back to Trost, now, they need our help, the wall has been breached again, probably with the help of Vivian now that I know." Everybody, including myself, were left motionless with our mouths agape, but Nate simply shook it off, "Norbert, how long have we been out here since I arrived?"

Norbert looked up to the sky with his sundial in his hand and answered, "About 4 hours since you got here, 8 since the expedition started. It'll be night in about 4 hours. It'll be our best and safest decision if we camped out here for the night."

But Nate shook his head, "No, we can't try to play it safe. If the wall really is breached and we've been out here for 4 hours since the wall's been breached, then we can't wait for tomorrow. There might not be a Trost tomorrow. We have to go today, so ready up the horses, and give me and Gino our gear back."

Swift and Norbert came back with a single gear, covered entirely of fluid and blood, and Swift walked towards me and spoke with a calm voice, "Gino this is yours. Nate you lost your gear when you became a Titan, I guess it evaporated from the heat of the Titan, but we'll worry about it later, we have to go now." I put on my gear and Swift grabbed Nate and swung down to the horses. We were off to Trost, Vivian would have to answer for her crimes now.

**Yes they are all alive and now you get to meet the suspect behind all the planned attacks, Vivian Sevi, come back next chapter to see if she is what they expect her to be.  
Thanks for reading.**


	11. Ch 11: The Traitor

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

The moment you realize your cousin is your worst enemy, see how Casey Teni experiences the breaching of Trost District and see if Vivian Sevi is actually the traitor Nate think she is, lots of surprises and twists, Nate and Gino might not be the only known Titans but read to find out.

Please review/follow/favorite, I am open to criticism.

Also read/follow SwiftFire100's _A Story About Love _and it's mid-sequel _Her Year of Happiness_; and read/follow our collab account SwiftOre and our story _Through the HellGate - Verity's Choice _it's the sequel to this story and _A Story About Love_

**Ch 11: The Traitor - Outside Wall Rose Part IV**

(Casey Teni)

I was off-duty from the Military Police, they had given me the day-off to visit my only friends and fellow graduates from the 103rd Trainee Corps. It had been about a year since I had last seen and been with them; they were all part of the Survey Corps Elite Force and I was now a captain for the Military Police Elite Forces. We had all gone a long way since our trainee days and the day we graduated, now they were going on their 8th expedition since they had joined the Survey Corps, the 56th expedition outside the wall, but as I arrived in Trost District, their departing city, I had just missed them, I knew I shouldn't have traveled from Mitras, the capital, especially since it was about a 7 hour trip to Trost District. Disappointed and heavy-hearted, I decided to stay longer, greeting the graduates of the 104th Trainee Corps, helping them with their procedures, and explaining the necessity and importance of their jobs as soldiers serving the king and the people inside the walls. As I was on my way to return to Mitras, what I feared most happened. Trost District had been breached, 4 hours after the Survey Corps had left, by the Colossal Titan.

I was now in Trost District's HQ, receiving gear to help aid the defense of Trost, but I kept thinking, 'You wanted to avoid them and now you're willing to face them? You should've joined the Survey Corps when given the chance if you were going to fight Titans at the simplest incident, not that this was simple.' I looked around in the supply depot of Trost District's HQ, trying to look for Captain Kitts Verman, captain and temporary commander of the Garrison, but he had already left, abandoning his post with the excuse of arranging reinforcements. He was such a tough man, but was as frightened as a mere stray cat. I was left behind with the supply group, the only superior in the vicinity. I took charge, "Everybody, forget the coward of a captain, I, Captain Casey Teni, am here to re-ensure the situation at hand. Are you going to sit here and beg for a slow painful death for you and your fellow comrades outside, or are you going to fight to the death for humanity!" Everybody screamed in triumph, "Then man your post! The soldiers outside need supplies at a moments notice and it is your jobs to get it to them!" Everybody hurried, transporting blades, gears, and gas canisters to the bottom floor for easy accessibility, I was proud of myself, "Remember the years you suffered as a cadet in the Trainee Corps! Remember the struggles you overcame! Now you are in a real-life situation! If you survive this, then you have earned the right of being a sol–..." a boom echoed through HQ, and I was grabbed by a 6 meter Titan, taking me outside as more Titans, around 3-4 meters, entered. I could hear screams as they echoed in HQ; the Titan was lifting me towards its mouth, I drew my blades and sliced off the Titans hand, but it immediately caught me with it's other hand; I was doomed, as my arms were trapped inside its hand, leaving me defenseless. It then continued to lift me up and put me into its mouth. I was doomed, left to die.

"Hey ugly, didn't they teach you not to eat such beautiful creatures as this one?" The Titan was then struck from behind and it immediately fell, I sliced my way out from its cheek, covered in saliva and blood from its previous prey, "Hey gorgeous, are you alright?" I turned to see a relatively young and beautiful lady, about my size, wearing a Elite Garrison Uniform, she began walking towards me, nonchalantly; I began to observe her, she had long luscious brown hair and beautiful green-blue eyes, just like somebody I remember being mentioned to me, long ago. She spoke in a calm innocent voice, "Hello, I'm Vivian Sevi, you must be Captain Casey Teni from the Military Police? Yes?" I nodded as she reached out her hand and helped me up, she pointed to the building next to us, "Swing up on the building," she shot her hooks and she was already on top of the building, but I was hesitant as I stared at HQ, wondering about the fates of the soldiers inside, "Don't worry about them, HQ's been compromised, there is nothing we can or could do to help them now. Just follow me, right now we just got to survive until they sound the retreat. Trost has already been lost." I nodded and swung up next to her as she was glancing at the surrounding buildings and houses, searching for something, "Now let's hide in a nearby house or building, something small and not too noticeable, something the Titans would walk pass by." I nodded and followed her. She was Nate's cousin and Gino's sister, the one I always heard about, the famous Vivian Sevi from the Garrison Elite Forces, and now she stood with me, trying to help me out. I needed to help her accomplish whatever she needed, I at least owed Gino and Nate that. I had my full trust in her.

* * *

(Vivian Sevi)

She definitely was a beauty, Casey Teni that is, maybe in a different world we could've been friends or even more, but I needed to get her alone, that was my mission right now. We were inside a tiny little house with a basement, these people were prepared for this, however the basement door was opened and it was vacant, she began walking down the stairs and looked back up at me, speaking in a calm voice "You're Nate's cousin right? Making you Gino's older sister, right?" I simply nodded, trying not to make any conversation, she continued as she started down stairs again, "That's good, I would hate to be with somebody I didn't know or have connections to. I feel safer with you." This was going to be harder than I thought, I lifted my hand and smacked her hard behind the head. The plan was in motion and now I had to make sure it carried through. I lifted her up and put her against the wall. She was alive and slightly conscious, that would give me a few minutes to set up my interrogation room, giving me limited time to prepare. I ran back upstairs, bringing back a chair, a stack of knives, and rope. She looked back up at me as I began tying her up, "Why? What did I ever do to deserve this?" I ignored her and continued tying her up and placing her on the chair. She cried, "What are you going to do with me?"

I grabbed the smallest knife from the stack I had found, and began speaking, "I'm going to ask you a few questions, regarding the breach of the walls, Wall Rose and Wall Maria that is."

She began crying hysterically, "I didn't do anything to deserve this!"

I walked towards her, grabbing her hair and pointing the knife to her neck, "Well, we'll see about me the truth and this will go real smooth, okay." she nodded, sobbing quietly, "Good. This is my first question, are you one of Oscar's spies in the Trainee Corps?"

She shook her head, still in tears, "No. I don't even know a Oscar, not one that is alive, only my friend Jade Calle's deceased brother, Oscar Calle, but she said he died during the operation to take back Wall Maria."

I laughed, he was actually hiding like a wounded animal after his near-death experience, but it was like him to depict himself a hero, "He's not dead, he's in hiding, and I haven't seen him since Wall Maria was breached, but he did say that he was going to have five spies enter the Trainee Corps. He said three have bright blond hair, one is a tall fit guy, the other is a short girl, like you. The third blond is actually darker, goldish and he's a tall guy that's pretty fit. The fourth had black hair and he is the tallest out of the group, and the last is a small powerful girl with red-gold hair. This is my final question, do you know anyone that fit any of the descriptions I have given you?"

She nodded, "The last one. Swift Fire, that's her name, but she isn't a spy, she's really nice and she joined the Survey Corps, killing countless Titans and saving countless lives outside of the walls and Titans even ate her family. She's not a spy."  
I laughed even harder; she was a beauty, but she was clueless, she definitely wasn't one of Oscar's spies, "Oh did she tell you that she lived outside the wall in a nomad tribe too? That's her cover and I'm guessing that you're not the short blond spy then; he said the first two would be a girl-boy group in the 103rd Trainee Corps and the last three would be a group in the 104th Trainee Corps." I began untying her, "Sorry for the trouble, I needed to play it safe." She nodded and wiped her tears off, "I'll answer any questions you have."

She nodded, "Why are there spies for, and what organization are they apart of and what are they planning to accomplish? And were you one of them? You seem to know too much for someone asking all the questions."

I laughed nodding, "They are from a tribe of Titan-Shifters, people that have the ability to summon and control Titans that have special abilities, like the Armored and Colossal Titans, and yes I was apart of the tribe. Our mission was to destroy the walls and all of humanity with them, but things changed." I took a deep breath, "Nate and Gino are Titan-Shifters, I don't know if they know, but they are fighting for humanity and I must be on their side. They are all I have left in this world, I can't lose them too. That's the reason I know all this and that is the reason I was asking those questions. Come with me if you trust me, we should get back to the Wall, they should be sounding the retreat soon."

* * *

(Nate Orne)

"Come on guys, we've been riding for about 2 hours straight and we are barely half way there!" I was steamed with hatred running through my veins. I was riding in the front row of the formation, a pyramid, all of us separated by 25 meters each, with me on the top; the second row, from left to right, was composed of Jade and Swift; Gino, Norbert and Herman made up the third row; the last row was Ethan, Cua, and Anthony. I rode with rage as I still couldn't believe Vivian, my beloved cousin, was a traitor of humanity, and the scary part was that I knew I would be the one that was going to have to kill her, even if Gino or anybody else tried to stop me from doing so. She was the reason why everybody were hiding in fear, she was the reason why countless people had lost their lives and loved ones, she was the reason why both my mother and Jade's mother were dead. I quickly glanced back at my squad, everything seemed calm, so I needed to keep it like that. The faster we went the less problems we would face, "Let's go! The whole city could be destroyed already, the Armored Titan could've already broken through Wall Rose! Everybody could be de-"

"Ah! Nate! Somebody! Help me!" It was Swift's voice, I turned to see a 13 meter Titan holding Swift in its hands, her horse was crushed, leaving a splatter of blood where it once stood alive. It squeezed her and she began throwing up blood, just like Eren's mother, "Ah!" she was screaming as everyone rode by, avoiding her, except for me, I wouldn't let that happen again, not without me dying.

I stopped and turned back, "Guys continue to Trost, I got Swift! That's an order!" I began riding to Swift, jumping off my, switching to my gear, shooting my hooks at the Titan, but it was too late. It had put her in its mouth and swallowed her, I screamed, "I'll kill you!" but the Titan caught me in its hand, beginning to squeeze me, I knew I was dead unless I did one thing, I lifted my hand sliced the Titan's hand off, freeing me. However, a sudden blast of lightning struck the Titan, emerging from it was a 15 meter Titan, with a great physique and short red-gold hair. It turned back and looked at me, then ran off. The Titan was Swift. She was the traitor all along, maybe Vivian wasn't, but I still needed to ask Swift myself. I lifted my hand and bit down on my hand. A sudden flash of lightning struck me as flesh started to form around me. I lifted my hands up, looking at my horse. It was tiny compared to me, I truly was a Titan, but I wasn't going to stand in amazement now, I needed to chase Swift. I needed the truth.

**Swift, in Titan-form, will fight Nate's Camo Titan, my official name for it, in the next chapter, it might take me a little longer than usual to do this, but I will try my best to have it done before Tuesday, but I'm not making any promises if not I will post another poetry entry, but if I do the poetry entry will come after.  
Thanks for reading.**


	12. Ch 12: The Truth

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

The person you love turns out to be the actual spy, hiding and concealing information crucial to humanity's survivor. Watch as Nate's Camo Titan fights Swift's Female Warrior Titan, the official name for her Titan, see who's Titan will triumph and who else is a spy in the Survey Corps Elite Forces.

Please review/follow/favorite, I am open to criticism.

Also read/follow SwiftFire100's _A Story About Love _and it's mid-sequel _Her Year of Happiness_; and read/follow our collab account SwiftOre and our story _Through the HellGate - Verity's Choice _it's the sequel to this story and _A Story About Love._

**Ch 12: The Truth - Outside Wall Rose Part V**

(Nate Orne)

We were running for about an hour east towards another smaller forest of giant trees, meaning we were southeast of Wall Rose. Swift, she was fast and it didn't seem like she was going to slow down anytime soon, but no matter how far she went or how fast she was going, I was determined to capture her. Who would've guessed that Swift was the actual traitor, most likely not Vivian, manipulating us, spying on us, but was there anyone else? Could any one else in my squad be a spy? Were there even more spies in the Survey Corps? Were there more spies inside the walls? Was Vivian actually a spy? I needed to ask Swift when I caught up to her, and she will give me the answers I needed, the easy way or the hard way.

I was sprinting about 30 meters behind her as she was beginning to slow down, this was my opportunity, I could catch up to her and apprehend her, "Swift! I want to know why? I'm not trying to hurt you, I just need to know why you did all of this!" She glanced back at me, covering her nape, "Swift! If you don't stop I'll be forced to fight you!" She suddenly stopped, jumping back and swinging back at me, going right through my abdomen, "Ah!" She then pulled her hand out and kicked under my legs, sending them flying. I was legless, making me immobile, steam rising from my legs as she was on me, growling with saliva drooling from her. If she was able to shift into a Titan, I was pretty sure she still couldn't control it, I couldn't either, but I knew some tricks myself. I needed to cloak myself like Norbert had said I had done, but I needed time to heal, so I grabbed Swift, or what I thought was still Swift, whispering in her ear, "This is how you're really are, huh? To think I had feelings for you, I loved you Swift, you were like the greatest friend I ever had, and you do this. I hope you can live with yourself after this, wouldn't want you to suffer the rest of your life." She began crying, the tears dripping on my skin, evaporating on contact. She tried pushing me off, but it was no use, I had a deadly hold on her, "What's the matter? Did you just realize the consequences of your choice? You can't hide any longer, I'll expose you for the monster you really are!" With one final roar, she started to gnaw at my shoulder, tearing off flesh as she began releasing some odor, with a scent more putrid then the scent of any normal Titan. Now that my legs were fully healed, I kicked her off me, rolling away. I looked at her as she seemed to undergo a new transformation, her eyes were no longer the moonlight blue of the Swift I once knew, they were pitch black, resembling the monster I saw standing before me. Her body now growing in muscle depth, resembling Cua as a Titan. The skin on her abdomen and arms fully melted, revealing her muscles now dripping with burnt flesh, steam emitting from them. Her legs somehow took a different change as armor seemed to have replaced the skin. She was the perfect Titan, a Female Warrior, but I was camouflaged into the environment, unseen as she kept searching for me, howling the cry of a crazed animal in search of its hidden prey.

"Nate! It's Jade, where are you?! I saw 2 lightning strikes, but Gino is with the group, so who was the other person that transformed?! Was it Swift?!" I turned back to see Jade, on horseback with what looked like my horse riding towards me, seeming not to know I was in front of her. She screamed as she saw Swift, "What kind of Titan is that?!" Swift roared and ran towards Jade, unknowingly towards me, "Is that Swift?!"

I roared to Swift, "Swift, stop! This is between you and me!" Swift reacted to my voice and began swinging randomly hoping to hit me somehow. I ducked and rolled behind her as she continued to scream. I looked around as about 30 Titans began emerging from every direction, running past my hidden self and past Jade, towards Swift. She continued to scream, fighting the Titans around her, but she was overwhelmed, they ate away at her. I revealed myself and turned to Jade, roaring as I pointed at the forest of giant trees, "Jade go to that forest, get to higher ground, I got the Titans," then turning back to the Titans devouring Swift yelling, "I'll kill you all!" as I began smashing the Titans surrounding her, but they continued to ignore me, making it easier for me to kill them. I killed about 20 Titans until I saw one of them holding Swift. She was now unconscious and missing her left arm and right leg. I grabbed the Titan, ripping off its arm and head, holding the evaporating arm that held Swift, releasing her as she began falling. I caught her and began running towards the forest I told Jade to retreat to, seeing her safely on a branch high up on a tree on the exterior of the forest, her horse and also my horse safely tied up underneath. I needed to get out of the Titan and get onto the branch. I began to remember how to get out of the TItan, I just had to pull myself out of the nape, but if I did then I wouldn't have my gear or the energy to get up in the trees. I looked up at Jade and shouted weakly, "Get us." I began to feel drowsy and fell to the ground, releasing Swift from my grasp, my vision began to change from the green-red scenery to a dark blood-red clump of surrounding flesh.

I opened my eyes and I was surrounded by flesh and I was attached to various tendons. I pulled my face off, leaving a huge sense of pain and heat, then pulled off my arms, then the rest of me The nape of the Titan began to open and I looked up seeing Jade holding Swift, "Nate, come on, the Titans are done eating the Swift's Titan carcass, we have to go!"

I climbed out of the Titan, dazed confused and weak, I tried to walk, but I fell onto the ground, Jade swung down picking me up to my feet as I was trying to hold myself up, I looked at her and spoke faintly, "Let's go then." She grabbed me and swung up to the branch, I looked at Swift who was over Jade's shoulder. I hated her with all of my heart, I would make her pay for the harm she had caused. We landed on the branch above us. I fell to my knees as Jade let me go, looking up to her I spoke in a sort of harsh tone, "Cut off Swift's arms and legs. We don't want her to get away or transform.," Jade looked at me with her scared, weirdly, innocent eyes, "Don't worry about her. She's a Titan-Shifter so they should grow back, but if they don't, well that's what she gets for being a traitor." I laid down on the branch, looking back up at Jade, "I don't feel so good, in fact, I feel weaker than ever. So I trust you will follow through my orders. Wake me up when she is conscious. We have a lot we need to ask her."

...

(Jade Calle)

I stared at Swift, now without either of her arms or legs, I just sat there wondering about the secret she had told me earlier that day when we were stuck in the forest, _'I don't know how to say this, but my name isn't Swift Fire. It's Amity Campbell, I'm from Shigashina. I lied about myself to hide the pain I feel for my family, I was eaten by a Titan, as were my parents, right in front of my sister, Verity. I hate remembering it, I hate thinking she might have been eaten too.' _was what she told me true? Or was it just part of her cover? I looked down as she started to move, it seemed she was having a nightmare, then she suddenly woke screaming, "Verity don't, stay back!" Swift looked around crazily, then looking down at her stubs then to me, saying, "So you've got me, and you've… cut off my arms and legs, smart move."

I walked towards her, petting her hair, "Nate wanted me to wake him when you were conscious, but I need to know something first. What you told me, about your identity and what happened to you in Shigashina and your family, was that all true? Or were you trying to throw me off and put me on your side?"

She smiled, then dropped to a frown. She spoke in a clear firm voice, "It was both, but I really wanted us to be friends, and everything I've told you is true, but you still can't tell anyone about this, Oscar's going to be pissed at me for saying this, but I'll give you everything I know about the Titans and why I was sent to infiltrate the walls as a soldier, along with a few others."

I looked at her, wide-eyed and shocked from her statement, "What do you by Oscar? Who's Oscar?" I pointed my blade at her, walking up to her and placing it under her chin, "I want the truth, none of that bullshit you've been pulling with everyone else, or else I'll reveal your secret with Nate, the only person you care about. The only person, other than me, that ever loved you."

She laughed a bit, "I would tell you if you lowered your blade," I stood still, blade moved even closer, piercing her skin as blood started to drip from her neck, "Alright, alright. I'll tell you, but I'd wake up Nate for this. Wouldn't want him to miss out on this useful information, would we?"

I nodded, "I guess you're right." I lowered my blade and pulled my cloth out to remove the stream of blood, turning around I called to Nate, "Hey Nate, wake up! The traitor bitch is awake! We got to talk to her now!"

Swift nearly bursted out laughing, "Oh so that's what I am now, not the devilous monster you are going to depict me as. At least have some respect for the person that could've killed either of you in an instant, though I wouldn't have the heart to do so to such dear friends as yourselves, yet I was able to kill so many before, like Alexis Blood when she overheard a conversation I was having with one of my 'acquaintances,' she never even saw it coming, you should've seen the look on her face, the pain in her voice, it was almost pleasing."

I turned smacking her with my full strength, grabbing her left arm that was nearly done regenerating, as I drew my blade I dropped it down, cutting it off, she squealed in pain, but I just kicked her, laying my foot on her head, "Say one more thing like that or without being questioned, and you will wish you weren't a Titan-Shifter," I turned towards Nate, who was still laying down, staring at me, "I'll ask the questions, if you don't mind, Captain Nate," Nate simply yawned and began standing up, nodding, "Alright, we want to know who put you up to this? Specifically, who or what are you working for and why are you doing this for?"

She sat silent for a while, "Well how do I put this, oh I know; after Nate's father rescued me in Shigashina he took me back to Dr. Jaegar, and as you could guess, gave me the syrome to shift into a Titan. However, their hiding place was overran by a secret tribe of Titan-Shifters outside the walls, led by someone you know quite well, Oscar Calle." She paused as she store us down, letting us take in the shocking news of Oscar, "He took me in as one of his own, telling me of the many things that's wrong with the walls, the atrocities of the nobles and the noble family, even before the appearance of the Titans, but I soon found out Oscar wasn't the leader, just in command of following out the plans, such as the fall of Wall Maria. The leaders are part of a council of representatives, consisting of powerful Titans, The Beast Titan and The Ballistic Titan are the strongest of the council, but even Oscar doesn't know their true identities, they always remain in their Titan forms or in robes, going by there Titan's names. This is all I know."

I nodded, "Good, that's more information than we needed, but did Oscar put you up to this? And are there any more spies? Please cooperate, don't try to protect any of the scum you called friends."

She simply shook her head, "Oscar didn't put me up to nothing. In fact, he didn't want me in any part of the operation, he said I was like a little sister to him, but there was nothing he could do to stop me. I had made my choice by then." She laughed, "And you think I would call those delusional monsters my friends? You're so misguided Jade, you and Nate were the only friends I have ever had. I know of 4 spies, excluding myself, The only one you might want to know is actually in the squad, the other 3 I don't even know if they are dead or not, so giving their names wouldn't help."

I slapped her, yelling, "Get on with it! We don't want an explanation of why you can't give us useless information! We want to know the spy in the squad!"

She turned back to me laughing, "Why don't you ask him for yourself? Anthony reveal yourself." Me and Nate stood shocked, "The gig is up, we've been figured out, if you come out now they won't do nothing to you. I could hear you the minute you stepped in and it kind of sounds like you got the whole group with you, too."

Anthony swung down from the branch, "Yea, I do. They went down without a fight, especially with a little help from Oscar, but he isn't here no more. They never stood a chance." Anthony shook his head, "He's so disappointed in you Swift. He heard everything you said. He wants me to capture you, take you back to the camp," Anthony sighed, "But I know he will only kill you, so I'm just going to save you and we'll be on our way."

Swift was turning red, "You idiot, all you had to do was come get me when you heard my transformation and smelt the adrenaline! Not kill off the whole squad, you were supposed to bring Gino, too."

Anthony began walking towards us, "I didn't kill anyone, though they are injured pretty badly, but none are intensively injured, and I do got Gino, all I need is you."

Nate drew his knife, only weapon he had because his gear had vanished when he was a Titan, "If you want to take her you need to get through us first!'

Anthony laughed, "Let's make a trade then shall we, you give me Swift and I'll give you back your squad or you keep Swift and I kill everybody that isn't a Titan-Shifter."

I stepped forward drawing my blades, "I got a better one, how about you surrender and we don't kill or report you, deal?"

He laughed, taking his gear off, "You know I always wanted to kick both of your asses during training, but I could never show my true potential, it was part of my cover, but I guess it's better late than never." He walked forward, "I've been waiting for this for a long time."

I launched myself, slicing his arm off at contact, "Well the waiting's over!" He suddenly pushed me off the branch, running to Nate as I shot my hooks into the nearest tree, "Nate! Kill him!"

Nate launched himself at Anthony, pulling out his knife and tackling Anthony off the branch, while he was screaming, "Anthony! Die!" Nate stabbed his knife into Anthony's shoulder. They were falling to their deaths, "We'll die together." There was a sudden flash of lightning, followed by the obvious boom, blinding me as I shielded my eyes. I looked back down to see Nate on top of a 15 meter Titan, muscles ripped, hair golden-blonde, eyes pure black, it was Anthony in Titan form, and he looked scary as hell. He grabbed Nate and threw him with vicious force, I looked towards Nate as he hit a tree, full force breaking right through it, "Nate!" I turned back to Anthony, "I'll kill you!" I jumped towards him as he was getting up, slicing randomly at him, screaming, "I'll kill you!" He grabbed me with his hand, crushing my internal organs and bones as I began puking out blood, putting me near his mouth and roaring.

This was it, I was about to die, without ever seeing Oscar ever again, I couldn't die like this, 'If you don't know how to control it, everything will wither away in your hands; everything around you, everything you will fight for, everything you care for, will be nothing more than ash and dust.' Mr. Orne's voice echoed through my head, I needed to save myself with the power that he gave me and Nate, even if I didn't know how to use it to destroy Anthony. I pulled my arm up, completely tearing my arm off from my elbow. I gritted my teeth, holding the pain behind my teeth, viciously biting the skin on the nub of my arm, following a strike of lightning, hitting me, causing the air around me to turn into flesh, I stood on top of Anthony, my leg on top of his chest. I was going to rip him out from his Titan and make him suffer.

**Swift is apprehended, spilling all the information of the Titan-Shifter tribe outside the walls, but Anthony interferes transforming into his Titan form, The Idiotic Brute which will be explained in the next chapter, and now Jade must fight him in her Titan form, The Strategic Titan which will also be explained in the next chapter. Come back to see the victor, and surprise appearances from two Titan-Shifters, the first is a member of the Titan-Shifter's tribe, the other is a soldier of humanity.  
Thanks for reading.**


	13. Ch 13: Skill Vs Rage

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I have been very occupied with school and my other stories, but I will try to update every Saturday now. Who will victor, Jade or Anthony, what has happened to Nate, and who will come to assist Nate and his squad, all will be revealed in this chapter.

Please review/follow/favorite, I am open to criticism.

Also read/follow SwiftFire100's _A Story About Love _and it's mid-sequel _Her Year of Happiness_; and read/follow our collab account SwiftOre and our story _Through the HellGate - Verity's Choice _it's the sequel to this story and _A Story About Love._

**Ch 13: Skill, Rage, and Blades - Outside Wall Rose Part VI**

(Vivian Sevi)

The green flare was shot. Everybody around me was in uproar. The mission to retake Trost was a success. Nobody had died in vain thanks to a surprise Titan-Shifter, named Eren Jaegar from the 104th Trainee Corps, who sealed the broken gate of Trost using boulder-sized debris within merely 4 hours since the wall had been breached. I realized that this is what Dr. Jaegar was talking about when he said that his son had astonishing powers. Now that the wall was sealed, I needed to find Nate, Gino, and the infiltrator, Swift Fire. I looked back at Casey Teni, she was sitting down, hugging her knees, and crying, "If only they could see this. They would be proud of me. If only I was with them, I could've known if they were dead or not."

I walked up to her, socking her with all my might, knocking her off her feet, hitting the floor hard. She was being an idiot, "You may be the most beautiful and intelligent human being I have ever met, but you crack under pressure to easily! What do you think this is! We are at war with not only the Titans, but people that are able to shift into them!" I saw the fear in her eyes, reminding me of Gino when he was younger. He needed me then and I was there for him, but he need me now and right now all I was doing was standing here screaming at one of his friends. I started to calm myself down, slowing my breathing down as I spoke to her in a calm voice, "I am very sorry, but you just need to breath and relax. You can't get all paranoid, especially if you want to go save them. I have just gotten some information about your friends from Commander Erwin. Erwin said that while Nate, Captain Levi, and him were retreating, a messenger came to them and told them that Nate's squad was trapped in the Forest of Giant Trees south of here without horses. The commander let Nate take some horses to go retrieve his squad; he also said they should be back in about an hour or two, but I this strange feeling that somehow something went wrong during their retreat. We need to go see if they need our help; I've gotten clearance to leave, they have horses on the wall directly above the gate. We'll be able to leave once they clear the Titans away from the gate, on the outside that is. Now get up, we need to hurry."

Casey wiped the tears from her eyes, "I understand. Sorry for my behavior. They are the only family I have ever had. They mean the world to me and if anything happens to them, well, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

I bent down to her, petting her head, rubbing my hand on her cheek, "Don't beat yourself up, they aren't dead, they've lived this long, they have learned how to protect themselves. Even if they are dead, they chose to join the Survey Corps, knowing of the dangers and consequences of being a proud soldier and they were willing to sacrifice their lives for humanity. We all are willing to, though, they are more willing than we are when we got to choose our path. All you can do is help me rescue them. It's the last thing we can do to make up for our cowardice."

She nodded, batting her eyes, almost what looked seductively, but maybe it was just the way I was staring at her, as she "Well what are we waiting for. Let's go. I always wanted to go outside of the walls of Trost, even before Wall Maria was breached, now I get to do that and make up the cowardly acts by saving my friends and get to-"

I laughed at her eagerness and unfinished cocky statement, basically interrupting her, while patted her on the back, saying "Ha, we'll never make it out if you keep talking Beautiful. Now let's go, we don't have much time until it starts to get darker, and by then it will be too late." We walked along Wall Rose towards the now unusable gate of Trost, when I noticed someone standing where we were designated to go. It was him, the ghost from my dark past, coming back to haunt me.

* * *

(Jade Calle)

I was staring down at Anthony, the traitor, wanting to rip him out of his Titan and eat him, but first we would need to interrogate him, then I could eat him. I saw as his fist slowly came towards me, catching it, yet it was too powerful to stop hitting straight into my chest knocking me back. Anthony, in Titan form, was stronger than I was, but I was going to kill him either way.

I looked to see that I could control, almost as if I was able to move at a faster pace than the rest of the world; I was also able to see the outline of green points all over Anthony's body, including his human body inside the nape of his Titan, all outlined in a darker green, signifying that the darker green the color of a spot was the more vital the spot was. Somehow I had to use this strange power to my advantage. I scanned Anthony's body for dark green vital points that, but instead I found a strange red aura surrounding him, it was a sign of danger, which meant it would be dangerous to fight him, but I had no choice, it was either fight him or risk being killed.

He roared, running straight towards me with full rage, I dodged him and, to my surprise, he blasted right past me, running straight into a tree, knocking it out of its foundation, sending dirt and mud flying through the air. He turned, seeing scraps on his face emitting smoke, clouding everything, except for his bloody red eyes. The fight continued as he continuously swung at me, left, right, left, right, up, left, down, right; each strike contained more intensity than the last, but began becoming more inaccurate, hitting random trees and thin air. I realized Anthony was growing; he was my height at the start of the battle, but now he had grown to an astonishing 20 meters. He had grown in size, but seemingly lost his control, carelessly throwing his arms like an enraged child, with uncontrollable power, yet, without a clear target. He was now truly an Idiotic Brute, like any other Titan.

* * *

(Nate Orne)

I was dying. Anthony had thrown me into a tree, straight into a branch. I was now hanging from the branch, the one that was now currently pierced through my body, right in between my lungs, while I began listening to the constant roars of what I presumed to be Anthony and Jade in Titan-form. My mouth continued to drip blood as the pain in my chest successfully causing me to fall into paranoia, wondering if I was going to die as I watched the ground 20 meters below me, flooding with blood. I raised my head trying to comprehend the situation: Swift was a spy and Titan-Shifter, Oscar was still alive, living with and leading a tribe of Titan-Shifters, Anthony was also a spy and Titan-Shifter sent to retrieve Swift, Jade was also a Titan-Shifter without the knowledge like me, and now she was fighting with Anthony as I was bleeding to death. I could hear the echoing of destruction and various roars, thundering through the forest. I heard the booming sound of thunder, signifying the appearance of another Titan-Shifter, weather they were our ally or enemy, I did not know, all I knew was that Jade was going to need my help. I thought about who the Titan could be, it could be Vivian, which was good or bad determining what side she was on, or Oscar, who was apparently on the opposing side of us. Either way I needed to get their attention, buy Jade some time to deal with Anthony. If it was someone I could trust, it would be a distress call, but if it wasn't, it would be the cry of an easy prey. I began to pull myself off to the edge of the branch, screaming, "Help! It's Captain Nate, the captain of the Survey Corps' Elite Force Squad SwiftOrne! We have a deviant Titan problem!"

A sudden flash of pain jolted through my body as somebody viciously pulled me off of the branch, saying in a sweet and beautiful voice, "Nate I apologize, but it's me, Casey Teni. Remember? We used to be friends in the 103rd Trainee Corps." I was no longer able to speak due to the intensified pain in my chest, but I simply nodded, "Good, well, I'm here to rescue you and the rest of the group, I've even brought along someone that can help us. Her name is Vivian Sevi. Sh is Gino's older sister, your cousin, but, in case you don't know, she is a Titan-Shifter, someone that can shift into a Titan, she knows exactly what is going on here, she explained to me somethings that happened on our way here. Don't worry, Trost has been contained and sealed, so we only have one thing to worry about, do you know where Swift is? She's a Titan-Shifter and a spy who infiltrated the walls about 5 years ago." She paused, looking at my wound, "Nate your chest. It's-" She slightly hovered her hand over the steam that was emitting from my wound, "Just hold on Nate! We need to-" My vision was blurry and my hearing began to deafen. All I could see was a faint image of Casey in front of me. My fear of dying alone would not torment me. I would not die alone, even if it was with Casey, I was still with somebody I cared for.

* * *

(Narrator)

Nate began to feel everything around him beginning to darken and he was now alone in an extremely hot and dark environment, or so he had thought he was alone as a familiar figure began to appear before his eyes. Nate realized he was in Hell, surrounded by various Titans and demonic creatures. He felt their presence, but they were not acknowledging him as they usually would, but it didn't matter, this is what he deserved for being a coward 5 years ago. He began sobbing dramatically, falling to his knees, and curling up into a ball, cursing to himself, "You fucking coward! Why couldn't you just have died those 5 years ago? Why did you have to try so hard to come so close only to fail? This is what happens to people like you, they work so hard, harder than anybody else, trying to redeem themselves, trying to make up for the past, yet they can never clean the blood on their hands, it still remains there, tormenting them day-in and day-out. I guess nobody could ever clean their hands, it just stays with them forever until it's their turn to die, I guess it's my turn."

Suddenly the familiar figure in front of him began walking towards him, beginning to speak sharply, "Nate, it's me, your father, Justin Orne. It isn't your turn to die now, it is your turn to live." Nate looked up at Justin, amazed at what was happening, amazed that his father was alive. Nate was now half dazed and half aware of his surrounding, let alone what looked like an illusion of his missing father standing in front of him. He was unable to tell if what he saw was real or just an illusion due to the huge amount of blood that he had lost, "Nate pay attention, I only have a little bit of time to explain to you what is happening and why I have not been around." Nate nodded, deciding to go along with the false sense that his father had return, Nate began crying recklessly. Justin simply comforted Nate in his arms, cradling him like he would when he saw Nate after returning from expeditions, speaking calmly yet shamefully "Nate, I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you and your mother, let alone the rest of the Shigashina. Me and Dr. Jaegar are hiding out now, but I have entered Hell to try and communicate with you. I can't tell you about this place, you will find out about it in time. What I really need to tell you is to get Anthony and Swift on your side. Yes I know about them, I have been here for quite a while, but my time is almost up, you do not need to convince Swift, she is blindly in love with you, she won't try to intentionally betray you, but Anthony will need some convincing. First you need to tell him that-" Nate listened carefully as my father explained to me the plan to convince Anthony, I acknowledge his precise detail, word by word. He finished the plan, lightly brushing my hair, "Nate, son, you have grown to become a fine soldier, no you have grown to become a fine young man. Do not ever give up, don't ever turn on your friends, they are all you have left, cherish them, they are your family now, protect them with all your heart." Nate nodded, wiping his tears "Now son, this is goodbye,. Until next time."

Nate tried reaching for his father, but Justin continued to fade away, everything demonic and hot environment was replaced by the memorable sunny and humid climate of the forest. The figure in front of him now was Casey, still talking in the same tone he had last heard her in, like as if time had never passed since he, "Nate, are you okay? Oh thank goodness, your heart just stopped for a few second along with the steam from your chest. I thought you had died, I was so worried I had lost you. I know this is sudden but I need to know, who are in those Titans and where is the rest of the squad at, if they are still alive?"

Nate looked at her, touching his chest, the hole now gone, "I'm fine, and the Titans are Jade and Anthony, we need to get to them before we worry about anything else." He sighed, knowing the question he could not avoid asking, "Where is Vivan now?"

Casey turned away from him, avoiding eye contact while she spoke ashamedly, "Oh, well you know, doing Titan-Shifter stuff."

He began to sit up, shaking his head in disappointment, "You don't have a clue where she is, do you?" She shook her head, but "Then where is she at?"

Casey simply pointed right behind Nate, "She's a few trees in that direction, talking to somebody, but don't ask me because I don't know who it is, but she told me to look for you and the rest of the squad so we could capture Swift, however she told me to kill Swift, only if she became to much of a hassle to capture alive."

Nate nodded, but shook his head "I understand what she is saying, but we cannot afford to lose anybody, not even Swift or Anthony, we will need everyone if we expect to retake Wall Maria and, when the time comes, to exterminate all of the Titans. When Jade and I were interrogating her, Swift seemed to be remorseful, so I think she will try to regain our trust, but we will also have to look out for her, she may betray us again, but right now we have to focus on getting Anthony. I have a plan on how we can convince Anthony back onto our side, but we will have to keep close eyes on him at all times, but we can worry about that when the time comes."

Casey nodded, "Alright then tell me what the plan is. I would really like to know what we are going-" Simultaneous explosions echoed throughout the forest, causing both Nate and Casey to turn towards the direction Vivian was said to be. Standing instead of her and her 'acquaintance' was 2 Titans, one 15 meters tall and the other 13 meters tall. A new fight had begun.

* * *

(Vivian Sevi)

I stood on a tree, about 20 meters from where Nate's voice had come from, 30 meters from where 2 Titans where viciously fighting each other, Casey assured me that she would find and collect him, while me and the ghost were supposed to search for the rest of the squad, unable to be seen or heard of, but instead I needed to talk with the ghost, get him to vanish like he did 5 years ago, "Oscar, why have you returned? What has the master sent you to do?"

Oscar simply laughed, "I'm only here to retrieve the son of a known traitor and the sister of the master's most trusted subordinate, that's all, and from what I've heard, a spoiled spy of mine has betrayed me, so I plan to kill her."

I eyeballed his cocky stance and his devilish stare, "I guess you must be talking about Swift. Well I can't let you do that. I have come to retrieve her myself, I have to know what is going on, though I have a pretty good guess, just stop me if anything is false. Alright," Oscar nodded, leaning against the tree, smirking, "Great, so I guess the master sent in 4 spies, that I have gotten information from my uncle Justin Orne, to infiltrate the walls in order to destroy them from within, but, as it turns out, that can never happen with Titan-Shifters on humanity's side, so now the master has sent you to destroy any, like Nate and Swift, but I guessing you are going to kill me too, right?"

He nodded, giving his satanical smile, speaking in his deep calm voice, "No Vivian, not you, I will kill your brother instead. Anybody who was not administered the power by the elders or the master are no more than scum unworthy of wielding the power. I will let you live, if you help me capture Nate, Gino, and Swift, they will not be killed, if they can be convinced."

I shook my head, "You're forgetting one person, who's 'the sister of the master's most trusted subordinate'? Is it Jade?" He nodded, "Well then where is she? Last I heard, she was just a fine soldier as any of the other people you call scum, why do you want her all of a sudden? You abandoned her, what has changed in the past 5 years that makes her so special to you now?"

He lifted his hand, pointing to the ruckus of the 2 Titans that were fighting, "There she is, performing as well as her brother always did. I would love to have her on my side, out of harms way, but if she refuses," he took a deep breath, his eyes shaking with emotion, "Well, I'll be forced to kill her."

I punched him, knocking him off his feet, "Are you serious? Don't you see what is going on? They are only trying to use you, that is why I left. All they care about is eliminating all of humanity, and for what? The fact that a few people were killed by a religious group. That is in the past, all we can do now is work towards helping humanity regain its freedom. Do you really want your sister to grow up in a world void of life and love, or do you want to help her fight for her freedom?"

He shook his head, "Vivian, I have always loved you and respected your opinion, but you are wrong this time. I can't let the master down, I must fulfill my objective. The will of the weak does not concern me, and soon it will not concern Jade either." He paused, wiping his face from the sweat dripping from intense anxiety, "Now I must kill you, too." He lifted his finger, as I lifted mine. We transformed simultaneously, his Titan 13 meters and mine 15. We would fight for what we believed in. We were no longer standing on the sidelines.

**Come back next chapter to see Vivian fight Nate's fallen hero and Jade's brother, Oscar Calle. Also see who wins between Jade and Anthony and what is Nate's plan.  
Thanks for reading.**


	14. Ch 14: The Scene

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I have been very occupied with school and my other stories, but I will try to update every Saturday or Sunday. Who will win between Jade/Anthony and Vivian/Oscar what has happened to Squad SwiftOrne, and what is Nate's actual plan.

Please review/follow/favorite, I am open to criticism.

Also read/follow SwiftFire100's _A Story About Love _and it's mid-sequel _Her Year of Happiness_; and read/follow our collab account SwiftOre and our story _Through the HellGate - Verity's Choice _it's the sequel to this story and _A Story About Love._

**Ch 14: The Scene - Outside Wall Rose Part VII**

(Narrator)

The Titan roars continued echoing through the forest, the situation that was taking place was escalating. Jade, in her Titan-form, was now under Anthony's foot, her speed not enough to dodge his boundless rage. Her death seemed inevitable as the beast that had replaced Anthony was now roaring in her face. It began looking at her with its crazed eyes, beginning to gnaw at her face, tearing shreds of flesh off of her face as it also tore flesh from her body with its hands, tossing is in its mouth as Jade's roar echoed through the forest; she was helpless.

Across the forest about 100 meters south of Jade and Anthony, two explosions, which were associated with Titan-Shifter transformations, could be heard; standing in the center of the eruptions were Vivian and Oscar, surrounding them was a small herd of Titans. They were now engaged with each other as well as nearby Titans, though the herd of Titans was no match for them as they were for each other. Vivian's Titan possessed the ability to regenerate quickly and absorb Titans into her body, but only if they were smaller than 15 meters; however, she is unable to absorb Titan-Shifters in their Titan-form because her Titan rejects any material that is not made of Titan flesh, Titans of a Titan-Shifter create a distinct material that her body is unable to absorb. Oscar's Titan had no special ability, in fact, it had an extremely slow repairing quality for a Titan, however, it had a unique feature; the Titan itself had a metal skeleton, that could be used as blades, which could easily slice through everything that stood between him and his target.

As the Titans battles continued viciously, one might say, Nate simply watched as all this occurred, while Casey shielded her eyes, unable to see the atrocity and brutality of both fights, the excess of flesh and blood descending from the sky like heavy water droplets, landing carelessly over anything and everything. They merely weren't involve because they were waiting for the perfect time to implement Nate's plan. Nate stood hesitantly watching Jade being mauled by Anthony, in such a gruesome way that he continuously flinched as she howled in pain. He wanted to intervene, but to save her, he would have to have precision timing to execute his plan. In a spontaneous change of events, Jade's screaming had completely stopped as well as her jittery movements, while Anthony continued to violently toss flesh into his mouth. A mysterious figure then appeared from the steaming corpse, they then began running towards Anthony almost losing balance, weakly leaping onto him, unnoticed. The bizarre figure then began climbing up Anthony's back, using a knife to keep herself from falling. The now recognizable woman used her precious knife to cut into Anthony's nape, pulling out a steaming body as she screamed, "Nate! Come and get me!" as she jumped out and began running towards my direction, being chased by 6 Titans.

(Herman Esqui)

A jolt of pain shot up my spine, waking me up vigorously. I looked around, realizing I was tied up left on a branch of a giant tree; I was in the Forest of Giant Trees south of Trost again, wondering what the hell had lead up to this. I noticed that my fellow comrades were unconscious and tied up as well; I realized what had happened, Anthony had single-handedly defeated us all, knocking Ethan and Cua out first, the strongest hand-to-hand fighters, leaving the rest of us stunned by his sudden change in ability. I shouted abruptly "Guys wake up!" Everybody simultaneously woke up looking around and scanning their surrounding, dazed and confused, though in Cua's defense, he was the only one that was always in a state of confusion; now that I had their attention I continued yelling, "Guys it was him, Anthony, that traitor, he's behind this! He's the one who tied us up"

Cua yelled, "Herman, Captain Nate ordered that you be silent for 3 months since you and Ethan disrespected Swift and Jade." He grunted loudly, breaking out of his restraints quite easily as he walked towards me, continuing his idiotic statement, "Captain Nate also said that if you didn't listen I would have to teach you your place in the squad."

I fell back, unable to escape from the brute's deadly grasp as I was left defenseless, being held off of the cliff; lucky for me though, the only person in the squad with enough balls and brains to disarm the ticking time bomb known as Cua decided to intervene, "Cua, remember that the Captain also said they may only speak during an emergency as well; if I'm not mistaken, the situation we are currently in can definitely be classified as an emergency." Fucking Gino, had the intelligence of Norbert and the balls of Nate, such a perfect combination, "Now Cua, help us out here, we need to find the Captain, Jade, and Swift."

Cua sighed and nodded, putting me down and untying me, "Alright, but only because we have to help Swift."

I laughed at him, such a loyal and idiotic subject cared more about a awkward girl than his master; I shoved him away from me, trying to keep myself from crying with tears of joy, "What about your oh so beloved Captain? Did you forget about him?"

Cua, in self-disappointment, bowed his head, and then surprisingly he laughed as he continued untying everybody, "No, I didn't forget about the captain, but Nate doesn't have an ass like Swift."

Everybody busted out in laughter, except me and Ethan who exploded in anger, simultaneously screaming, "Why the hell is the captain never here to see everybody else fuck around."

We wanted to continue our little 'outburst', as Gino would have called, but Norbert, the coward in charge, decided to take initiative and began giving orders, "Alright, cut the crap guys, we need to regroup and find the captain and the others! Get your shit and let's go! We don't know if Trost has fallen or not, so we must act quickly!" We could then start to hear vicious roars from what sounded like at least 250 meters away, "That has to be Swift or Jade, they like to make a hell of a lot of noise when they fight, so that is where we will be heading! Now, let's move out!" We all saluted and shot our hooks swinging, Anthony was pretty strong but he still was stupid, he had forgotten to take our flares.

While we were swinging I decided to ask Norbert a question, something that everybody would have called a stupid question, but nonetheless I wanted to know, "Norbert, I have to ask why you have been silent for this past month like me and Ethan? Were you in trouble and was that your punishment? Or did you just choose to remain silent, other than the times you were forced to talk when you were left in charge."

Norbert kind of eyeballed me, a sign of annoyance in his eyes that everybody wore when me or Ethan asked a ridiculous and meaningless question, but he shook it off, simply nodding, showing he understood where I was coming from and what I was saying; he spoke with a weird firmness, "Well, it is because there was really no need for me to talk. From what I've learned, all I needed to do as a soldier of humanity was to simply follow my superiors' orders and analyze the environment around me. By doing this I learned from other people's mistakes." I simply nodded, thinking that his answer was bullshit, but it didn't matter what I thought of him, I had to have faith that he would make the right decision, "Now enough talking, we have to hurry before it gets any darker!"

(Nate Ore)

I stared down at Jade; a numb sense of surprise started to travel thoroughly through my body, leaving in a positive paralysis, but Jade was in danger and me and Casey needed to help her; I yelled turning to Casey, "I need you to swing down and get Jade and Anthony! I'm going to transform and kill off the Titans in the area!"

Casey ran behind me as I leaped off the branch, below was a 30 meter drop; I could hear her also leap off of the branch, screaming at the top of her lungs "Yes Captain!"

I looked back at her, "After I need you to com get me!" I looked back down and realized I had forgotten to bite my hand so I could transform, hitting the ground with full force, the shattering of my legs sent pain circulating through my body like a wildfire, but only for a brief second as I still transformed into my Titan, roaring in pain. I realized that self-inflicted injuries weren't a necessary cause of the transformation; any kind of injury would trigger the transformation, as long as I had a goal in mind. I looked down at Jade, who staggered towards me, running slowly behind me with Anthony still on her back, possibly making it twice as hard to run from the exhaustion of emerging from her Titan. I ran towards all of the Titans in front of me, then I pulled myself out of my Titan, emerging from the nape, "Casey come and get me when you're done, they'll be distracted with the carcass while it's still here! Hurry!" A sudden boom echoed through my ears, the Titans must have tripped over my empty Titan, but that wasn't the case when I turned around I saw something else, the body of a 13 meter Titan staring down at me; it had blades extending from its arms, pointed at me, no other Titans could be seen around the area. It wrote down on the floor with its blades the words: _Nate, it's been a while, but I assure you it will be the last time we see each other._ It was Oscar.

**Sorry that I didn't really include the fight between Oscar and Vivian, it seemed to unplayable to go to much into detail about them yet so I want to keep them a secret. See what Oscar does to Nate next chapter and see if his squad makes it to him in time.**


	15. Ch 15: What's Next

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I part of the Attack on Titan franchise. I do not own any of the franchise's characters, ideas, or concepts.

Author's Note:

I would like to wish every mother on Earth a Happy Mother's Day. It kind of sucks that my mom has to work today, but that's what she wants to do, but I hope every mother gets what they deserve today.

Anyway, I'm sorry this chapter is really short, but I have become very occupied with school and my other stories. I am also having a hard time trying to figure out how this should play out without being lazy and just skipping a lot of detail, but I promise I will try to make it better in the future chapters.

Please review/follow/favorite, I am open to criticism.

Also read/follow SwiftFire100's _A Story About Love _and it's mid-sequel _Her Year of Happiness_; and read/follow our collab account SwiftOre and our story _Through the HellGate - Verity's Choice _it's the sequel to this story and _A Story About Love._

**Ch 15: What Next - Troubles in the Walls Part I**

(Nate Orne)

We returned back into the safety of Wall Rose, back into Trost District; we were immediately received a dismal welcoming along with the unappreciated news of humanity's first 'victory' against the Titans, but my mind was still stuck on our incident outside Wall Rose. Vivian and Oscar, they were gone now, probably wherever Oscar was camping out at, Vivian was now his captive and Anthony, his loyal subject, was back with his beloved master. I sat on the wall overlooking the cleanup of Trost by the gate to the lost territory, Commander Erwin by my side, listening to me as I told the lie I promised Oscar I would tell. He looked at me, a weird look in his face, neither firm nor frail, but curious and full of disbelief, "So, your squad ran into Titans while they were in the forest, but only 2 died, one of them not even being in the Survey Corps. Do you see the trouble I have with this? How is it that your squad, out of all the others that have come and go, can survive for more than 10 hours outside the walls with such little casualties?"

I shot a stare at him, shouting, "Because they are my squad." A sense of tension began building between us, strong enough to make me collapse under its pressure, but I remained composed, trying not to show any sort of weakness, though my voice couldn't hide it, "I apologize Commander, but my squad isn't as incapable as you think they are. I chose each and every one of my soldiers because I know how they react in field situations; by the looks of it I think I chose right." I walked away from the commander, which was a strange to do.

I heard the commander sigh as I stopped in place, "Captain Nate, I can see something is troubling you, but don't think this is something you can handle on your own. You don't have to be the one that carries the weight of the world on your shoulders, that's why I made you a squad leader, because I know you can handle situations like this, physically and mentally; if it's really as bad as you seem, you should discuss it with the rest of your squad." I felt his hand on my shoulder, looking up at him, his emotionless face, but his caring eyes, "I am having your squad stay behind during the next expedition, I need you guys to investigate something for me. Follow me, I'll tell you on our way back to the Military Police HQ, there's this kid I must go see, he can shift into a Titan." He looked down at me, "You might know him, he's from Shigashina, same as you; his name is Eren Jaegar, he's part of the 104th Trainee Corps."

I looked at the commander with shock, "I know him, but I can't go with you to see him," I stopped suddenly, "I can't forgive myself for the trouble I've brought him and his family."

The commander looked at me, "Don't worry, that's not what I wanted to tell you; Captain Levi and I have that covered; what I wanted to tell you was about somebody I think is a traitor among the walls, or rather, among the Survey Corps. I think it is a member of your squad, which is why I want you to keep an eye out for them." I was surprised of the commander's accurate suspicion, especially with all that had happened mere hours before, "I need you to stay here and keep an eye out for everybody in your squad; if nothing happens then they will all be cleared of suspicion."

I nodded, "Don't worry sir, if any of them were traitors, I would have known by now, but just in case I will keep a close eye on them. They won't do anything without my suspicion, but what about Casey Teni? Wouldn't she be the one you'd spy on because she was the only soldier from the Military Police to be present in Trost? I'm not trying to draw attention from my squad because I consider her as one of my own, but I am very curious why she went after me with Vivian."

He nodded, "Yes, but I have somebody trailing her already, my second-in-command, Captain Mike Zacharius, but it'll only be for a few days. I also have suspicion to believe that another traitor might surface soon, so I want you to watch out." We stopped at the gate to the remains of humanity's territory, "Well this is where you must stop, I want you and the rest of the Elite Force to take care of the remaining Titans. Squad Leader Hanji and you are in charge of the Elite Force while me, Levi, and Mike are absent. Don't let me down." I saluted and he looked back at me, "I'm glad you and your squad made it back. When things settle down, I hope you can still trust me as much as I trust you."

I left him a blank stare, "Sir, you insulted my squad and directly questioned my leadership skills," I paused for a few seconds, "But I know that is only because you want to better me." I saluted in front of him, screaming at the top of my lungs, "Commander Erwin, I will fight alongside you until the day that I drop dead of exhaustion."

Commander Erwin smirked at me, "I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad that the Survey Corps will be temporarily left in good hands." With that he walked away onto the transport platform, but he still had one last thing to say, "I hope you can figure out how to solve the problem that is bothering you."

I saluted, I cried out my white lie, "I will Commander." I saw as he descended with the platform as I continued to speak to myself "But how the hell are you supposed to solve a problem that you created when it was the only solution to a bigger problem." The truth is I gave up Vivian to Oscar to save my squad, but the problem with it was that she wasn't mad. He said he would spare us if we gave her to him and she didn't care about her own safety. Oscar said he would let us live, but he would eventually come back for Jade. We also had to release Anthony to him, the one thing my dad warned me about. I cried, "I'm sorry Vivian. It's might fault."

"Nate, get over it. She is gone." I turned in anger, but I paused as I met the eyes of the person I felt the most guilt towards, "She did it on her own, you had no hand in it, it was her choice," Gino paused, wiping his tears, "So get yourself together, we can't save her if we keep moaping around and taking the blame."

I hugged him, unable to control my tears as the fell down my cheek, "You're right, but we have a bigger problem; Commander Erwin thinks that there is a traitor in our squad, which is more than true, but that isn't the problem. He suspects that there is another traitor hiding in the walls."

Gino shook his head, "Not surprised the commander thinks that, but who do you think the other traitor is?"

I thought for a bit, suspecting every single person I had encountered throughout my entire service in the Survey Corps, "Nobody in the Survey Corps, but they might be from the new recruits. They would have to be somebody that joined after the breach of Wall Maria."

Gino nodded, but then shook his head, "What about Oscar and Vivian."

I thought about that, "Maybe there was another incident the wall was breached. I remember my dad telling me about how his father was part of the clean up of Shigashina 70 years ago. The city was left in ruins like if a Titan had caused the damage. Vivian and Oscar might be older than we think, or maybe someone from the inside gave them the serum we were given, somebody that is over 40 years old at least and knows about the incident. That would mean that there was traitors before the wall were built."

Gino stepped towards me, "But apparently your father was the only one to know, you don't think he is a traitor do you. I mean, it would explain why he isn't here, but then why would he give you the serum to help Eren Jaegar if your father sided with the enemy?"

I shook my head, "I don't know, but for now we have to worry about Trost. Call Squad Leader Hanji, tell her that me and her are in charge."

Gino nodded, "And if she asks to capture Titans?"

I thought about it, she was given permission to do so before by the commander, "Tell her it is up to her to trust her own judgement. If she doesn't think it is safe to do then we won't capture Titans."

Gino saluted saying, "Yes captain." And he ran off to where he last saw Hanji.

I sighed, "What do I do now."

**I know this chapter wasn't what you guys are used to reading, but I think it was necessary to have chapters where there isn't fighting or action in general, at least to help develop the plot and make the story seem more realistic. Next chapter I will write about the Battle of Stonehess and show how Casey reacts to the situation. Come back to see if she lives or dies.  
****Thanks for reading.**


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